The Dark Side
by Grey Blade
Summary: Zuko and Iroh have to join up with the Aang gang, they think this is the worst of their problems when suddenly a strange, streetsmart teenage girl with weird clothes literally falls from the sky. Zutara and a slight, slight,very slight Taang.
1. Prologue and Introducing the Gang

**Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender does not I repeat does NOT belong to me. But original characters and the story do. **

**Authors note: This is my first fanfic y'all…but just because of that, that doesn't mean you can cut me some slack…Pls., be straightforward in your reviews. I want the most honest reviews you can give me be it negative or positive. I can take it, I have to if I have to fulfill my dream as a fully pledged writer and all…okay I'm sounding lame, anyway, I already thought of my character and its abilities and personality like four years ago, it just evolved to a better person over the years so don't get the idea that I stole the idea from you all (atbp: Shadow Bender, etc.). But**

**I have to agree your stories are great…let's just get on with the story…And……..Here it is!!! **

Here is the Actual summary: Zuko and Iroh have to join up with the "Aang Gang" to teach the young Avatar firebending since they are indebted to them. At first, trusting the prince seems to be the worst of their problems but it turns out to be the least when nice, while being attacked by Azula, a strange teenaged girl literally falls from the sky. She is very mysterious with a past no one knows of. Despite the fact that the group doesn't know whether to trust her or not since they, repeated, no nothing of her, she goes along with them anyway. The thing is she may be smart, clever, quick-witted and enigmatic, but she seems to be a complete prodigy in totally pissing them of, and to make matters worse, they have to protect her since she doesn't seem to know how to protect herself, but that is something that the group is completely wrong about. She holds a power stronger than the Avatar's himself. And she uses that power when the group gets trapped in a strange city. Now, Katara and Zuko have to get past their differences to survive gigantic slugs, storms and a curse. But they find unsuspecting help from someone to turn them into something more. (A/N: Despite the fact that the story revolves around a new ally, it has a lot of Zutara in between.)

The Dark Side. A rare group of people that is unheard of, unknown to even the oldest and wisest of their existence. They are different from the benders of the four elements. They do not bend but they manipulate, allowing them to create darkness as a solid, liquid or gaseous matter, to read minds, manipulate objects, to see the location of a person object or animal and many others. Truly they are a special people but only one Dark Sider is more powerful than the Avatar himself. This Dark Sider was not born with this ability but merely developed it while in its dormant state. This, among all Dark Siders, is the only one who can use the darkness to travel through time, space and different worlds. And with the help of the darkness, this Dark Sider came upon many other powers, making this particular person stronger than ever. This one did not come from the world of the four elements but only came upon it with one single mission in mind: not to interfere with the Avatar's destiny but to help him choose the right one.

Prologue

Four years ago:

She ran. Ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her long raven black hair trailed behind her, dancing playfully in the wind. She didn't care if the snowy mountain ledge was unstable. She just hoped she could get there on time.

_Why? Why did I have to run away? Why couldn't I spend all those years training? And now I'm just a vain, helpless girl that can't protect her friends and family and now…_tears ran down her cheeks and flew off behind her as she stopped herself from thinking anything else but one image along with one word. _Brother._

Minutes before, in the hollow bowl of the rocky mountain, she was overcome with fear, she ran away and now she was running back hoping, praying to God that she would be there on time. She was out of breath and was almost gasping for air.

To her relief, she had reached the top of the mountain; she saw the opening to the mountain bowl, a small hole but big enough for an adult to fit through. She made a slight smile in relief and then slowed down but just slightly. She ran down the naturally-made stairs, smiling. She had made it. Her eyes were wide with fatigue but she didn't care she could save her brother. She didn't know how, she wasn't strong or quick but she was determined to help somehow.

But when she came to the bowl, the hollow inside of the mountain, her smile faded. She saw her brother alive, but only just in time to see him fall and die. Behind his body, a tall figure was there, with the cruelest raven black-blue, wispy hair. He was covered in blood, but it was like he didn't care. He smirked at the twelve year old child. She was horror-stricken. He raised his hand, obviously about to murder her. As he did, she inhaled sharply, her eyes wider and her electric blue pupils shrunk as if in fear.

The walls were splattered upon with blood and a scream pierced the air, the ravens nearby flew off.

Introducing the Gang

"This is ridiculous!" Zuko yelled as he threw away his make-shift spear away in frustration.

His pants were pulled up to his knees but despite that, all of him was soaking wet. He had been fishing in the river for an hour and still he caught nothing.

From the bank, his uncle Iroh was sipping a cup of tea, calm, despite the fact that his nephew was steaming mad. "You are indebted to them Prince Zuko. Helping them fish is the least you can do for them."

"Helping them! I'm the only one here!"

"That's because the avatar and the waterbender have already caught their share. That warrior-boy is getting some berries and nuts and Ms. Bei Fong is watching camp for us."

"Well, I'm not a waterbender. Why do _I _have to fish instead of watching camp?"

"That is what they wanted."

"All they want is to see me squirm," Zuko mumbled to himself.

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing."

The two firebenders had been staying with the avatar group for one-and-a-half days. They were caught by Azula but were saved by the Avatar and his friends. To Zuko, it was too good to be true to be saved by the Avatar completely out of kindness and just as he suspected, the rest of his friends decided that in return, they had to help him learn firebending. The waterbender insisted that since they were part of the group (at least for three weeks as decided), they had to do their share of work.

Zuko saw his chance as a large fish swum towards him. He jabbed the spear at the water and caught the fish. He smirked in triumph, but it was long lived as the force of the current broke his spear, letting the fish go, though injure it was still swimming quickly.

"I can't take this anymore!" He threw what was left of the spear into the river.

Just then, he noticed the water tribe girl walking towards him and then stop on the bank.

"What do you want?" Zuko asked huskily.

"You can stop if you want to. I can see you're really tired. Try to get some rest before lunch," she said calmly.

"I don't want pity from a water tribe peasant!" Zuko shouted. He was tired and he wanted to stop, but he didn't want to be the weak link in this.

Her calm expression changed into something more furious. "_Look,_ just because you're an "almighty prince", that doesn't mean you can go ahead and shout around. Just say 'no' if you want to." She said this a bit angrily but she was obviously trying to restrain herself and her calm was still in her tone.

"Stop bossing me around peasant! I can stop if I want to but I don't want to now."

"Really? Just a while ago you said you were sick and tired of fishing," his uncle said as he happily sipped his tea.

"Uncle! You're not helping!"

The girl was talking again, calmly now, but still a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Look, you don't have to be ashamed of letting go of something for a bit of rest. We already have enough fish so try to stop."

"I am not ashamed!" Zuko snapped back.

"Fine, you're not, but you're still bloated with pride, you know. Just stop and take a rest. I'm sure you're not _that_ obsessed with fishing."

"The girl has a point, Prince Zuko."

Zuko could see they wouldn't stop going against him so he just got out of the river and walked past them. As he passed the girl, he hissed, "Peasant."

Katara glared at him and clenched her hand into a tight fist but knew better and let it go.

"You must forgive my nephew," Iroh said as he sipped a new cup of tea. "He is going through some...issues lately. Give him time."

Katara couldn't help but smile at the old man. "I'm sure he's going to snap out of it sooner or later. Are you going to stay here?"

"Yes. The brace of the quiet forest and this tea is relaxing."

"Okay, I'll just call for you when lunch is ready."

Iroh just nodded in response.

Night had fallen fast. They were too busy what with setting up camp, getting a fresh load of supplies and food, and adjusting to one particular prince that there was no time for Aang to get started with learning firebending.

There was a warm campfire and around it, the group was sitting talking about their next plan. All except Zuko. He was a little way off from the group and was lying down looking up at the sky.

He wasn't looking at it just for the mere beauty of it; he had never done that since he was young. He was thinking of what to do when their three weeks were finally up. He wasn't going to stay with them, that's for sure, but it had crossed his mind three or four times, he could capture them and take them to the Fire Nation, but Azula was waiting to strike, he also had the option of living a new life with his uncle and letting go of everything. But his throne and his honor called out to him. He was confused; that was the only thing he was sure of.

"Hiya!" It was the Avatar. He was sitting right beside Zuko's face and his face was directly above him.

Zuko just narrowed his eyes and said plainly, "Go…away." How he longed to wipe that happy-go-lucky smile off his face. It was repulsive to him.

"Why don't you come to the campfire with us? It seems so cold out here."

"I'm a firebender. I can make my own heat." Zuko turned away with his back to the

Avatar. But the twelve year old just flew to that side and faced him again, much to Zuko's annoyance.

"I said, go away," he said, putting in a little more annoyance in his voice just so the kid could take a hint.

The Avatar looked concern but he knew better than to force anyone. "Well, okay. But you can come up to the fire if it's getting to cold for you." With that, he flew off again towards the happy group around the fire.

Zuko looked over his shoulder to watch them for a while. They all seemed so happy just talking to each other. When was the last time _he_ talked to someone with a smile on his face? Several years ago, but it seemed so much farther away than that. He turned back and rested his head on his folded arm.

Before he knew it, he was sound asleep.


	2. Meeting of a New Friend

**This is my second chapter. This is my first fanfic so it's lame…but even so, do not cut me some slack, and oh yeah…**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me.**

The Meeting of a New Friend

Sokka woke up. It was early but not early enough for him. It was time to go and get some distance between them and the fire princess, Azula. He, along with the others, knew that she would be chasing her prize.

"Hey, get up," he said as he shook Aang awake. "Katara, time to go," he said to his little sister. She yawned and looked at him with heavy eyes and then stiffly got up. "Can't we sleep in for once?" She asked half-yawning.

"Are you kidding? If Azula finds us, we won't be getting oversleeps that's for sure."

"But they're far away. I don't sense any vibrations coming towards us," Toph said as she also sat up.

"Then good for us. More time to get some distance." Sokka looked over to where Zuko was, at least where Zuko was _supposed_ to be. "Hey, where's Zuko?"

Toph stood up and felt the vibrations on the ground. She then looked over to one side of the forest. "He's in the river. He's doing a lot of movement and he's jabbing the ground with something pointy. I think he's fishing," she said thoughtfully.

"Okay, I was wrong. He _is _obsessed with fishing," Katara said.

Behind them, near the pile of already burned firewood, Iroh slept soundly until Momo played with his face. He giggled a little but went to sleep again. Thankfully, Appa was near. He licked the fat, old man awake. "Okay, okay, I'm up," he said.

Aang flew over to his side. Momo jumped to his shoulders. "Sorry about that. Don't worry, Appa does that all the time. You're not getting some special treatment."

"Of course I wouldn't. At least now, My nephew's firebending won't be my alarm clock." He laughed loudly but Aang just looked at him blankly. "O-kay then. I'll just go check up on your nephew."

At the river, Zuko was difficultly trying to fish…in vain. At this time of day, there were a lot of fishes swimming across him, passing him quick as lighting, but that was the problem: they were as quick as lightning. For the past half-hour, he had been jabbing the water with his newly-made spear but in a futile attempt. So far the only thing he caught was a light cold.

He was about to jab at a promising halibut when the Avatar flew towards him using his glider and landed effortlessly on the bank near Zuko.

"Hi," he waved at him with his stupid happy grin again. Grinning there as if there wasn't a problem in the world.

Zuko didn't reply. He just pretended he wasn't there and continued hitting the water.

Aang didn't seem to see the point of being ignored. "Hey! Why are you fishing again? We aren't going to eat." He cocked his head like the child he was.

"I'm not fishing for that," Zuko said, completely forgetting he was supposed to be ignoring the Avatar. "I don't like being pitied. I'm just showing that I can fish on my own."

"But no one was pitying you at all," the Avatar said with a confused look on his face.

"Then why are _you_ here?" Zuko snapped.

"Because we're already going. Sokka said we have to get as much distance from Azula as possible," he said with a tone that said for Zuko to hurry up.

"Fine," Zuko said. As much as he hated to admit it, they were right. Right about now, Azula was already chasing them. And getting closer and closer by the minute. He let go of his spear and let it drift away by the mildly strong current.

He went towards the bank for his upper body clothes. He didn't put them on while fishing since he knew he would be soaking wet. Only his pants were on.

"You know, I'm glad you're fishing for your dignity," the Avatar said as he smiled. Zuko couldn't help but smile as well while his back was facing the Avatar. It sounded like praise to someone superior like him.

"'Cause I sure wouldn't want to travel with a fishing-obsessed prince!"

Zuko smacked his forehead. He should've known the Avatar was going to say something that stupid.

"Everyone ready?" Aang asked as he looked over his shoulders with Appa's reins in his hands.

From the saddle, Sokka held up a thumbs-up.

Aang turned back to face the direction of the river. East. That was where they were headed. As far away from the Firenation as possible while Aang was still learning firebending. "Okay Appa, yip-yip!"

The flying bison grunted once then flew off. The wind was set against their faces until they were steadily flying in the sky.

Zuko held on to the side hole in the saddle. He was in no danger but to him, he was holding on for dear life. As they got higher and higher, his complexion turned from pale white, to a disgusting green. Even if this was the second time he rode on a flying bison, he still wasn't quite used to flying.

"What's wrong oh fearless prince?" Sokka mocked. "Afraid of heights?"

Zuko did nothing but send him a death glare. He would've made a testy comment but found that a small lump was stuck in his throat. To his disbelief, he realized that he was too afraid to talk. He just turned to look back at the scenery below him, but regretted it as his stomach did back flips at the height they were in.

Sokka grabbed his stomach and laughed. He had been waiting to see this for a long time.

Tears were already falling down his eyes when he noticed his sister eying him in slight scolding manner.

"What?" Sokka asked, but it came out more as a giggle.

"Sokka, you know that's not nice."

"Since when was I nice?"

From the other side of the saddle, also holding on to a side hole, Toph said with a raised eyebrow, "You're traveling with the Avatar, saving dozens of lives while you're at it, helping achieve peace and prosperity, forgiving and trusting an enemy, regretting the death of the North Pole princess, keeping a promise to your grandma to look after your baby sister and you're saying you're not nice?"

"Okay, so maybe I'm doing all that, but believe it or not,"-here he hunched over and stippled his fingers together while making his eyes shifty-"there's a dark side to Sokka of the Water Tribe." He said the last few words in a whisper as if he was making an evil impression. A stupid evil impression.

Katara just looked at her brother with the look she always had when he did said something stupid such as this. "If you want it put in another way, why don't you _try _to be nice?"

"Look! I don't need help from you! Stop pitying me peasant!" Zuko barked. This caught Katara by surprise. But when her mind finally registered…

"Why don't you stop calling me peasant? And for your information, I wasn't pitying you. I was just trying to teach my brother something about manners. And besides, who would ever have pity on _you_?!" Katara snapped back.

"Why don't you just-"

Zuko never finished. A ball of blue flame narrowly missed his head. With the argument completely forgotten the others looked over to the side of the saddle. Down in the forest, three large lizards were snaking their way through the trees, but what really got their attention were the three girls sitting on them. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee.

"Aang!" Katara turned to the Airbender up front. "It's Azula!"

"I know." Aang started to maneuver the bison to go higher into the sky.

"Wait!" He was interrupted by Zuko. "We're going to be sitting ducks out here. Bring us on the ground where we'll get more cover."

"Are you kidding?" Sokka said. "If we go down, Azula will catch up to us! No, the best plan is to get higher."

"She's my sister. I know her more than you do."

"Well we're the ones she's been hunting down for the past two weeks, don't ya' think we'd know her strategies by now?"

Another attack came their way, but this time it was a bolt of lighting. But despite this, the two boys went on with their argument.

"I say we go up!"

"Down!"

"Up!"

"Down!"

This was too much for Katara. She didn't get boys and their macho contests.

"Up!"

"Down!"

"Okay, break it up!" Katara barked.

"Why are you shouting at me?" Sokka turned to her. "Its prince boy here that doesn't want to listen!"

"We're too vulnerable up here!" Zuko yelled in return. "It's not like our only hope will fall from the sky!"

_Boom!_

A puff of smoke suddenly lifted. The gang thought that it was caused by Azula but they realized that it was too far away. Then they heard someone yelling, as if it was just right above them.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Then the shouting stopped and something fell face first right in the middle of Appa's saddle.

"Wow, Zuko," Aang said in awe. "You have the gift."

"Wait," Sokka said. "He said our only hope would fall from the sky. This thing did not fall from the sky. It came from that explosion, and then got far enough to land here, and I don't think this thing our last hope."

"Sokka!" Katara hit her brother on the head. "Stop calling it a thing. It's obviously a person."

Sure enough, the thing that fell did look like a person. But it was hard to know from which country she came from. She was obviously a girl because of her figure. That was the only thing they could be sure off. But her shirt and strange laced boots were black along with her hair so they thought she was fire nation but then her strange pants with what seemed like side pockets (A/N: We know these as cargo pants.) were green, so their was the possibility of her being from the Earth Kingdom.

Then the girl started to cough and splutter and then slowly raised her head. Katara slightly gasped. The girl had blue eyes. They were electric blue, which was strange since she had never seen that kind of blue, but hey were blue all the same. So now, they were unsure if the girl was from the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe. Then the girl started to speak in between coughs.

"Note to self: Never, ever say your best friend is fat." Then her face went black as she saw the faces hunched over hers. She seemed to be aware of where she has landed only now.

"O-kay…hi?"

Iroh held out his hand. "My name is Iroh. Hello to you, too."

The girl shook his hand but then the shake was immediately broken by a smack from Zuko's own hand. "Uncle! Stop talking to strangers! Especially one that falls from the sky!" 

The girl seemed to be taken aback by this. "Fall from the sky? Who do you think I am? Chicken Little?" Then her face changed as she seemed to think of something. "Oh yeah, Chicken Little only said that the sky is falling…"

"Okay, who are you, what is your name and who is this…Chicken Little?"

The girl shrugged. "Don't mind the Chicken Little part. Anyways, I was in the middle of introducing myself until angry boy here interrupted." Zuko narrowed his eyes at that.

"My name's Regina Erin Blade. Call me Reg or Reggie. If you want more, I'm sixteen years old, half-Japanese, half-American, but I'm sure you don't know what that is, and I don't belong to any of your countries."

That last statement seemed surprise the rest of the people on Appa. "So you don't belong to…anywhere?" Aang said but his question wasn't answered. The girl, or Reggie, as she was now called, raised an eyebrow at him. "You're the Avatar?"

Aang puffed up his chest proudly. "Yup, that's me! The name's Aang!" But he couldn't say anything else as a ball of lightning almost hit them. "Whoa!"

"Okay, what was that?" Reggie seemed unimpressed by the death she had just missed.

Everyone turned back to look over the side of Appa's saddle. Reggie followed suit.

Toph started to say something but was immediately interrupted by Reggie.

"That's-"

"Azula, Fire Princess, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, brother of angry boy here,"-she pointed a thumb at Zuko beside her-"a.k.a. Fire Prince or Used-to-be Fire Prince, she's known as a war specialist and firebending prodigy. Ty Lee, circus freak and Mai, just plain freak." She said all this in matter-of-fact tone.

"How did you know that?" Katara asked. But again a question was ignored.

Reggie pointed down. "You could lose them you know."

"How?" Everyone asked in chorus.

"Those lizard things would fall for any meat. The circus freak, freak and princess freak can't let go of them 'cause the speed they're making those lizards run at, they'd break their necks if they fall. So get rid of the lizards, get rid of the freaks." Reggie just shrugged what she said off.

"Of course!" Sokka dropped a fist on his open palm. "Why don't we do that here where there's no meat at all?! What a great idea!"

But to everyone's surprise, Reggie was already dangling a strange piece of meat over the side of the saddle. Then she threw it away; not that far so the lizards can see the meat but far enough for the three girls to disappear away.

Reggie had an 'I-told-you-so' look.

Zuko was right. Their last hope did come from the sky.


	3. Learning of the Friend

**Firstly, I would like to thank tHeBlInDbAnDiT for being my first reviewer. I just thought of the freaks thing 'cuz I thought they really are freaks seeing as they…okay I don't know how I thought of their freak nicknames….**

**Disclaimer: Maybe if I close my eyes, Avatar might belong to me...Nope, still not working. **

Learning about the Friend

It was at least five minutes since Azula's attack, but already the gang's heads buzzed with questions.

"Who is this girl?"

"How did she know I'm from the Fire Nation?"

"Why is she wearing strange clothes?"

"Where is she from?"

"Who's this Chicken Little guy?"

"I wonder if she would like some tea."

They sat in silence in Appa's saddle as Reggie did something strange. She was running a strip of metal across the edge of her nails for some reason.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked.

Reggie didn't even look up. "I'm filing my nails."

"What's that?"

This time, Reggie looked up to Katara but in a bored kind of way. "It's so my nails will stay clean."

"Oh, I see." Katara nodded her head in agreement even though she had no idea how a metal strip will help maintain your nails cleanliness. She looked at her own nails. For a while, she couldn't help but admire them. They were clean and she didn't need that…metal strip.

"So Reggie," Aang said without turning to look back at her since he was concentrating on maneuvering Appa. "Where are you headed?"

"Wha?"

"Where are you headed?"

Reggie looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "And how did _you _know I'm a traveler."

Aang shrugged. "Lucky guess. Anyway, where are you headed?"

Reggie turned back to "filing her nails". "I'm going where you're going," she replied.

"Oh, so you're going east? Where in the east so we can drop you off."

From behind him, he could hear the distinct sound of Reggie's snort. "Dude, if there were a way too get as far away from you as possible, I'd die of happiness, but seeing as there isn't, you're not dropping me off."

"What's a…dude?" Sokka asked but then his mind registered at what she just said. He's eyes widened in horror at the thought of having _her_ on the team. It was bad enough with the two firebenders, but Reggie? He couldn't bare the thought of it. "No!" He stood up suddenly. "There is no way she"-he pointed a finger at her-"is traveling with us!"

Reggie didn't seem offended by the finger but just the same she took hold of it and gave it a slight twist. Slight as it may seem, Sokka yelled in pain. "Ow! That was my finger!"

The girl just snorted. "Dude, just because I'm not from around here doesn't mean I'm stupid. I can see it's your finger. _Duh_."

"My finger! Oh the pain! The agony! I'm dying!" He turned to Katara and shook her shoulders. "Save me Katara! Heal me!"

But his sister was unimpressed. She just looked at him the way she always did when he was doing things like over exaggerating, like what he was doing now.

"Geez, stop overreacting," Toph said. "It's only a finger. And I don't think you'll die because of that."

Zuko couldn't help but smirk. Seeing Sokka like this made him gloat inside even though he wasn't the cause of the boy's pain. He would have fun with this new girl. Beside him, his uncle sipped a cup of tea. "I think this girl will give us many laughs, eh Zuko?" Zuko didn't reply; he just kept on smirking to himself.

"Hey, Reggie," Katara started. "You said you didn't want to come with us but you have to. Why is that?"

Reggie just shrugged. "Because I have to. I don't really know the details but even if I did I'm not allowed to say it. It's my employer's policy."

"Oh. So I guess you're not going to tell us what you're here for."

"I-yup."

"Hey," Aang said. "How did that explosion happen? And how did you know so much about Zuko and Azula?"

Reggie again shrugged but there was a slight hint of pride in her face. "I have the best resource in the world. And even if I didn't I'd still know everything about you. Your past, what you're doing, attitude, even the people you like."

All around, everyone blushed to themselves thinking of a particular person. All except Iroh who was barely listening because he was drinking his tea.

"Anyway, that explosion happened cuz' I kinda pissed off my "best resource in the world"."

"You're resource is your best friend and you called her fat," Toph said.

Reggie blinked. "How the hell did you know that?"

Toph rolled her blind eyes. "Here's a quote: 'Note to self: Never, ever say your best friend is fat.'"

Reggie held her chin as she tried to remember. "You know, I kinda do remember saying something along those lines."

"Back to the point here!" Sokka barked. "This girl"-he was about to point a finger at her again but stopped midway. "Is not, I repeat NOT coming with us!"

"Come on, Sokka," Katara said. "It could be fun having someone new come along."

"Fun? She just hurt my finger!"

"Sokka, you've gotten way more bruises than that, so I don't see why you're crying over a finger."

"It's not just any finger! It's my boomerang finger."

From the side, Zuko said, "You don't use one finger for a boomerang."

"The dude has a point," Reggie said.

"How about this?" Aang said as he turned to look at them. "Why don't we have a vote? Who's in favor of Reggie leaving?"

Sokka raised his hand. He looked around to see he was the only one doing that. He scowled.

"Who's in favor of Reggie staying?"

Everyone else raised their hands, even Momo. Everyone that is, except Reggie herself.

"Why aren't you raising your hand?" Aang asked.

"It's a matter of politics from where I come from. The common denominator doesn't raise his or her hand. In theory actually. I'm not really sure."

"Assuming we all know what that meant," Toph said. "We all agree that Reggie stays."

Momo leaped on the group's new teammate's shoulders.

Sokka pouted. Katara noticed this and put a reassuring hand on her brother's shoulders.

"Come on Sokka. I'm sure it's not going to be _that_ bad. I mean besides, it's not like a new teammate can cause us near death."

Katara has never been more wrong in her life.


	4. How Katara and Zuko are Doing

**Hiya! I know it's been a long time. I mean, it's already been six hours since I've last updated…0o…..Okay, so not that long. I was on the internet since like before lunch, that would be 1 o'clock, and now it's 6:50. Anyways, here's is a real description of Reggie aside from what has already been revealed.**

**She has black fingerless gloves with holes on the knuckle parts, in case you didn't get the drift on the shoes part, they're military style, she has a navy blue studded collar, her black hair is layered and reaches up to her back shoulder bones, she has three, gold hoop earrings in one ear, she has a silver chain around her neck with a cross pendant (she's a catholic), she has a red ruby necklace, a wolf fang necklace which used to belong to her now-dead brother, she has silver bangles on her left arm and she has a tattoo on her right shoulder. That's about it.**

A Look into how Katara and Zuko are doing

Katara blinked her eyes open. Her back ached like hell and eye crust was stopping her from completely opening from opening them.

They were back in a forest, again near a river to camp for the night. Now, it wasn't night, it was early morning, but it wasn't a sweet one. Last night, Sokka was worrying too much about the three other new people, especially Reggie, whom he thought was about to "invade their minds, find their deepest, darkest secrets, use it to her advantage, Escape to the Fire Nation, tell the Fire Lord, hunt them down until they were stopped at a dead end to their very own graves." Katara had to roll her eyes at that. He worried too much that he kept on fidgeting in his sleep so much that Katara had to pretend to volunteer to watch over him. Of course, whenever she decided she would finally fall asleep, Sokka would wake up and she had to 'keep watch' again.

When she looked around, she realized that she was the first one to wake up, until she saw Reggie's spot completely empty. When she turned to look around her she saw a note attached to the tree by a black knife. It read:

_To Whoever, _

_I am away doing stuff so don't try looking for me. _

_Reggie._

_P.S. no I have not invaded your minds, have found out your deepest, darkest secrets, using it to my advantage, escaping to the Fire Nation, telling the Fire Lord, hunting you down, until you are standing at a dead end at your very own graves._

_P.P.S. Make sure you save me at least ¼ of lunch or I'm going to hurt Sokka. Period. No questions asked. I might aim for his pinky this time. _

(A/N: I know the language they write in is Chinese but I just translated. No it's not that Reggie doesn't know Chinese. Well, I'm not sure if it's Chinese, their writing just looks like it.)

Katara chuckled at the first 'P.S.'. It was like Reggie had read Sokka's mind. Or maybe she just overheard Sokka while he was saying that even though Katara was pretty sure that she already heard Reggie's really loud snores at that time.

She left the piece of paper beside Aang, who was sleeping soundly beside Momo on top of Appa's tail, and made her way towards the river.

This part of the river didn't have as strong a current as their previous landing. That was good, it was calm, and she could easily freshen herself up and practice her bending.

She sat at the bank and stooped down to gaze at her reflection. She wrinkled her nose at the sight in front of her. She had felt eye crust but she didn't think it would be _that_ much. It was disgusting. She could barely see her pupils hidden underneath the brown stuff. But then she just smiled and shrugged. _Good thing I'm near a river then._

She cupped her hands and trapped some water within them. She stooped down lower and washed her face. After several procedures of getting water and washing her face she was finally able to see her eyes clearly. Aside from that, she had also taken off some dried mud of her face. It didn't change her skin color but it improved her complexion at least. It looked a lot smoother now.

Then she stood up with a fierce look in her eyes. Not an I'm-about-to-murder-you type of fierce, but a determined kind of fierce. She took up a fighting stance and started to the different forms of bending. First, she practiced the water whip and then the octopus maneuver; she then started to practice creating large waves in the river. When she let go of a particularly large wave, she winced at the large crash it made creating a really loud sound. She hoped that it wouldn't wake up the boys and Toph.

The camp was only a little way off so when she turned to look around, she could easily see them. She sighed in relief as she saw that the crash didn't cause much of a disturbance. Sokka just scratched his belly while snoring quite loudly. Aside from that, everything seemed to be okay. Her eyes flew over to the sleeping figure of Zuko. She didn't know why, seeing as he was hidden behind his uncle's bloated stomach. She tried to look at him but Iroh's stomach was just too big. Then she realized what she was doing. What _was _she doing? She was trying to sneak a peek at prince jerk. She wondered why for a moment then went back to her waterbending.

After she had reviewed all of the moves she knew, she pretended to be fighting an enemy. For a reason, the face of the enemy was Zuko, which made her eyes look fiercer. She hit the air with a large orb of water then feinted to the left of her imaginary enemy and then she hit it with a long water whip. At least she was supposed to hit it. She had lifted the whip midway when suddenly a voice came from behind her.

"What are you doing?"

Katara's whip froze then altogether fell with a splash on the ground. Katara quickly turned around to see Zuko leaning on a tree. His cropped hair was a bit messy and his form was hunched; it was obvious he was still very sleepy.

Katara blinked for a while then turned around to continue her bending. In the group, she was the "mother", that part was obvious enough, so she had to keep herself calm. At the moment, there was no reason to explode right now. But for some reason, being alone with Zuko brought back memories of the Fire Nation raid in her home, her mom hushing her, her tears, that piercing scream and her mother's body on the ice, the blood rushing out of her body tainting the snow. She figured that the best thing to do was to keep quiet. But Zuko didn't take kindly to this.

"I just asked you a question," he said sternly. Katara just tried to concentrate harder. Tried to ignore Zuko as much as she can.

Then she felt a strong hand on her wrist, turning her around. She came face-to-face with the prince, that angry glare in his eyes. "_I _am royalty. _You_ are a peasant. So therefore, you have to answer my question. So answer me."

Katara snapped. Now she had a reason to explode. "Well, what are you going to do when I don't answer? And why would you care anyway? Now. Let. Me. Go!"

"What am I going to do to you? I'm going to burn you, that's what."

With her one free hand, Katara lifted an amount of water and hit Zuko's face with it. The impact sent him staggering backwards, and then he fell on his back. Just when Katara thought his glare couldn't get any worse, it intensified.

He hurled a fireball at her but she created a barrier of water just in time to deflect it and then spun around to get more water to hurl it Zuko sending him crashing into a tree. He swung his legs and a circle of fire followed which he turned into an even bigger ball than the previous one and threw it at her. She flew right into the river. Her eyes fiercer now. His glare angrier. There was less intensity than in their fight in the North Pole and in the Crystal Catacombs in Ba Sing Se. But still, the tension was scary.

For what seemed like hours, their battle continued. Quite a way off, a pile of rocks formed a miniature dam, which was of course the reason why the current of the river had lessened. Reggie climbed over to the top of the pile. She had to admit, what met her was something she didn't quite expect. When she reached the top, she had to duck immediately to avoid a ball of fire. She thought it safer to hide behind boulder in front of her but she also thought it interesting to find out what was going on. She peeked over to see the Katara and Zuko-of course she knew their names without even being introduced since she knew everything about them anyway-battling it out in front of the river, a little way off the camp, where the others were still asleep, completely unaware of what was taking place. She couldn't help but pull up a smile at their fight. She sat on the boulder and rested her elbow on her knee, and her chin was rested on her palm. This was going to be interesting.

For a few more hours, Katara and Zuko still continued.

_Well, at least now you're getting some practice, _Katara thought to herself with sarcasm in her tone while hurling a ball of ice at her opponent.

The ball of ice was immediately met by another ball of fire. Both balls were so big that the impact of them hitting each other had caused both benders to fly in opposite directions. Again, Katara into the river and Zuko right into a tree.

Before they could stand up, the distinct sound of slow but steady clapping came from somewhere. They turned around to see that it was Reggie, with a smirk plastered on her face. She was seated on top of the pile of rocks they had ignored until now. "Well, I think that's enough now, isn't it."

Zuko glared at her. "How long have you been there?" He demanded.

"Quite a while. Oh yeah, and dude, you got spit all over your face," Reg commented.

Zuko blinked, and then felt around his mouth. Sure enough, he could feel the gooey liquid. It wasn't around his face exactly, but it had reached even the edge of his nose. He heard the Water Tribe girl laughing uncontrollably. He glared at her and then at the new girl who was also snickering to herself. He stood up and turned away to go back to the camp where Toph and the boys were already starting to get up.

Reggie jumped from the pile of rocks and helped Katara up. "You know, I can't help but feel it's a good thing that I came when I did," she said as Katara straightened up her robes.

"Yeah, I can't help but feel that, too," she replied with a smile on her face.

Reggie shrugged. "Whatever. Isn't it about time for lunch?"


	5. Meditation

**Okay, it's 11:25 at night and I am still glued to this computer. Of course I am writing this now, but probably I'm gonna upload this tomorrow. I have been at this computer since exactly 12:33 pm and the only thing that is keeping me away is food, and bathroom brakes. Of course there is the factor of me babysitting my neighbors for 1 dollar an hour. (Hey, I'm in the Philippines. 1 dollar and hour here is quite a lot, seeing as I'm stuck here for like 5 more hours). But the all the kids do is watch TV and eat and go to sleep. I brought my laptop along so I can continue writing my fanfic. But now I'm back home and I have only disconnected from the internet, like 5 minutes ago. Now you know how addicted I am to writing stories. Oh yeah, Warning: This chapter is really boring. Nothing important there, so don't blame me if you fall asleep…I warned you. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, my character would already be there. Except she wouldn't come from a different world. I'd still put in her attitude, though. **

Meditation

Ten minutes after they had started eating lunch, Reggie had already devoured more than ¼ of what they had caught and collected. They thought it impossible, but now, they saw someone who was actually hungrier than Sokka.

"Can I have more, please?" Reggie pleaded as she held out her bowl to Katara.

"No way!" Sokka barked. "You already ate half of what we caught! I'm thankful we even have enough food to keep us all from starving!"

Katara sighed. "She's right, Reggie. You should really cut down. It will get harder to sustain ourselves if you keep up your…appetite."

"I have to agree," Iroh said as he sipped his tea.

Reggie raised her hands in surrender. "Fine. I'll try to cut down. But you know, you could at least give me some gratitude at actually catching something for lunch you know."

Katara smiled. "Okay, I guess you do deserve that. Thanks, Reggie."

Toph raised a spoon at the electric-blue-eyed girl. "Yeah, but next time, try to keep your chewing to yourself. Hearing rabbit meat being chomped down isn't good for my appetite."

"I don't think it's good for anyone's appetite," Aang said then started to laugh. Katara, Sokka and Toph exchanged glances (of course, glance would be a loose term for Toph.) and joined in the laughter as well. Even Iroh contributed a chuckle.

Reggie scowled. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh at the new kid; even here, that always seems to be the condition."

Aang stopped laughing, but only gradually. "Sorry about that. And, we laugh at everyone here. You don't get special treatment."

"Really now?"

"Yup."

Katara stopped laughing then she noticed Zuko glaring at her. She blinked at him twice then glared at him as well before facing the other way quickly. Iroh noticed this and smiled to himself. Maybe Zuko would get something out of this after all.

"Hey." Reggie asked. That question seemed to be directed at him.

"Yes?"

"You know something," she started. "It's really creepy how you magically conjure a cup of tea."

Iroh winked at her, but the girl just seemed to think that was totally wrong, not to mention weird. "I have my secrets."

Reggie just shrugged.

Aang popped in with another question for Iroh. "Hey, when are you gonna teach me firebending?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, I feel a bit too tired." He then turned to his nephew. "Zuko, why don't you teach him for now? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt."

Zuko grumbled a bit but then he noticed the waterbender's icy glance, so he stood up and trudged down towards the river. Aang followed then called over his shoulder. "Katara, I'll be back for my waterbending lessons!"

"Take your time!" Katara yelled in return.

Reggie eyed the Avatar. She hasn't seen the Avatar actually bend before; well save for the times he was flying with Momo. She stood up and followed them, thankful that no one asked where she was going, but then she barely got a distance away from the campsite when Momo jumped up and draped itself (A/N: I don't know the gender okay! Why don't you people review me and tell whether I should put himself or herself) on her shoulders. The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine, you come along," she said sternly. "But you'd better be nice."

Momo cocked its head at her.

Zuko sat on the ground near the river bank and closed his eyes. Aang cocked his head, wondering what his new teacher was doing. The firebender could feel the Avatar's confused look burn through him.

"It's called meditating," He finally said, his one eye peeking at the boy.

Aang sat beside him. "Oh. What's it do?"

"It helps calm the mind. If your mind is calm, you get more control over your fire."

He continued. "Firebending isn't like waterbending, airbending, or earthbending. You have to feel the fire within you and then summon it out. For that, you need a presence of mind. You will nee a lot more concentration in this type of bending."

Aang nodded. "I see." That was a lie and Zuko could see right through it. Well, not exactly see since his eyes were closed.

"From now on, you must meditate regularly, to keep control over your fire. Close your eyes,"-Aang sat straight and did just that-"and slowly inhale"-Aang breathed in deeply but steadily-"and then slowly let it out"-Aang exhaled. He did this over and over again but he just couldn't seem to understand how it would work. He didn't feel relaxed or calm.

From the safety of a tree, Reggie watched them warily, with Momo sitting on her head like it was some kind of nest. She could easily see that Aang couldn't get the concept of meditation. It was easy to see since she had to meditate every day. Even 'Angry Boy' didn't get the concept.

Meditation is to relax and let all thoughts free. Your mind has to be clear. The Fire Prince thought that meditation was the time to get in touch with your thoughts, but that was just plain wrong. How the hell where you supposed to be calm when you're thinking of sad things like going back to papa?

_Man, he's doing it wrong, _she thought to herself. Even from the distance of the edge of the forest, she could make out the distinct movement of their chests going up and down in a slow steady pace. _At least they got the breathing part done._

Aang reached behind to scratch his back. Another thing that was wrong.

Meditation also meant that you have to temporarily let go of the outside world and be in your own universe. That meant, only you and your mind should be there. You had to let go of all earthly attachments. In Aang's case, his attachment was an itch in the rear end.

Reggie sighed. If she was going to help the Avatar, she might as well help with this. Time for her to step into fake-relaxation time.

Aang thought he was getting the hang of it. In his mind, he could see the image of him firebending. He smiled to himself. He was happy; he would finally master the four elements. If there were a way, his heart would make a twenty thousand feet leap into the air. But then his happiness was disrupted by someone's voice.

"Ya' know, I'd give you about a thousand years to get this meditating thing. And that's saying something seeing as you're really slow. Slower than a turtleseal and all."

Aang turned around. He saw Reggie leaning her side against a tree while examining her nails. She would've made a cool image had Momo not been sitting on her head. The lemur cocked its head at Aang then jumped down into his outstretched arms. "Momo!" He cried out in glee.

Zuko glared at Reggie. Why did she have to intervene in everything? Can't she mind her own business for once?

"What do you want?" He asked coldly. Reggie didn't take the hint of that tone and walked towards them in a casual manner.

"See," she said to Aang. "Taking notice of what I just said is wrong."

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, injecting more venom in his voice.

"Meditation isn't all about getting in touch with your thoughts. In fact it's the complete opposite." She took a seat down the Avatar. Zuko thought that if she sat down beside him she would've been burned to a crisp. "You have to let go of everything in your mind, get all thoughts away, make it blank. In meditating-"

Zuko would hear no more of it. "I don't need help from you! I've been meditating for two years and now look at what it has done to me!" He meant for her to see that his way of meditation had turned him into the powerful firebender he was now but she seemed to get it the wrong way. She snorted then said in a sarcastic voice, "Yeah, look at you now."

Aang continued playing with Momo but Reggie went on to talking to the Fire Prince anyway. "Your way of meditating has gotten you into a bad temper and a one way trip outside the Fire Nation."

Zuko glared at her. Now he knew that he hated her more than the Avatar or the Water Tribe girl. He wanted nothing more than to squeeze the sarcasm out of her voice. Nothing more than to burn her then and there. He wondered now why he had thought traveling with her would be fun. His eyes glowered with hatred, but she seemed unafraid of it. That has never happened before. She even seemed unimpressed by it, even bored with it. But she noticed that look all the same. The temper he had. Then it hit him. The girl had a point.

"See what I mean?"

Zuko sat down and crossed his arms over his chest avoiding her obviously bored stare. But in a way, that stare was lecturing him. But from behind him he heard the small sound of Reggie pinching the Avatar's ear. "Ow!"

"Aang you listen, too."

From the corner of his eye, Zuko could see the Avatar nod. The lemur was already sitting silently on the ground; no doubt it had also received something from the girl.

"The elements are like the darkness," she started in a lecturing voice. "If you cannot control it, it engulfs you, but if you rarely use it, it snuffs out."

"The elements are the representations of your mind. So you must take control of it and use it to your full extent. There must be balance; therefore, you must be calm even in the hardest of times. To do that, you must put your mind at rest regularly. But seeing as you're benders, the best way to keep balance is to_ meditate_ regularly."

"You cannot have a conflict within you while doing this. You must make your mind blank and clear, away from anything. You must even let go of your emotions and the outside world. Meditation is all about you getting in touch with your own universe, that is, your mind."

"You'll know when you have mastered meditation when you aren't even disturbed by any commotion or self-needs like hunger or thirst or even when you're itching to stretch your legs. You'll know when you have mastered meditation when it's already been three hours and it feels time hasn't even gone by, and in those three hours, you have thought or felt nothing."

"To get your mind blank is hard at first. It helps if you have a mantra."

"What kind of mantra?" Aang asked.

"Anything. Mine is different you wouldn't understand it. Your mantra can be something like Earth, Fire, Air, Water or anything else you can think of. It could just be 'rock' or 'dirt' if you want. Just make sure it's easy to remember and when you recite it, it won't easily remind you of something distracting."

Aang nodded. If he learned anything from Reggie, it was another kind of meditation. Sure he meditated, but that was to get into the spirit world or something and needed a lot of concentration. This one needed a different kind of concentration and he needed this to create balance within his mind.

He sat down and closed his eyes and started to clear away his mind. His back itched so he started to reach out behind him but immediately got slapped.

He opened his eyes to see Reggie's eyebrow raised. "No self-needs remember? That includes scratching your butt."

Aang wasn't about to scratch his rear end. Well, now that he thought about it, it did itch a little. But he ignored it. He closed his eyes again and started to clear away his mind.

Man, was it hard. The river's constant splashing distracted him, and can't those birds keep quiet? If these was just step one of firebending, he dreaded to find out what the next steps were. He wondered if keeping a mantra would help. No harm in trying it.

"Earth, Fire, Air, Water. Earth, Fire, Air, Water…" he started to recite. His 'mind-clearing' has improved at least. The itch in his butt was gone now.

Reggie stared at the kid, amused and entertained by his concentration. She could never get how seeing others squirm and struggle never got old around her. Then her stare went over to 'Angry Boy'. He was scowling while looking at the water. Obviously, he didn't like it when his own pupil was learning better from someone else that wasn't even meant to teach.

"You know you should try meditating," Reggie pointed out.

"Why should I?"

"Because it helps," she said flat out.

No response. This guy seriously needed to try something new. "Fine, if you try my way for half an hour, I won't bug you for the rest of the time you stay here."

No response but Reggie could see in his eyes that he was thinking that over.

"Fine, I will, but you'd better keep your promise."

Reggie smirked. "I'm a girl of my word even if I don't seem like it. I promise." She raised her right hand innocently.

Zuko scowled for a while then closed his eyes and seconds later he was reciting in chorus with Aang. "Earth, Fire, Air, Water. Earth, Fire, Air, Water…"

Reggie stood up and started for the camp. Momo caught up and draped itself on her shoulders again. When she knew she was out of earshot from the two new meditators, she said to herself. "Yup, I'm a girl of her word who knows how to create loop holes."

Momo cocked its head while staring at her as if questioningly.


	6. Jet Returns

**Man, did I sleep late last night! I slept at 3:30 am reading Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code. I really couldn't stop laughing at Pex and Chips. They were uber funny!!! I'm sure some of you don't know what I'm talking about, don't mind me. I just love that book!!! Anyways on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I swear I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender…Geez, now I'm sad.**

Jet Returns

Two-and-a-half hours later, Katara and Toph were cleaning up while at the same time, Katara was also preparing for Aang's waterbending lessons. Meanwhile, Reggie was doing a battle of her own, and the opponent was sleepiness. She had been listening to Iroh's old stories of war and how he got the name Dragon of the West since she got back to camp.

"And when the Earth Kingdom General took up his fighting stance I was not afraid. I hurled a large fireball at him and it hit him squarely on the chest, but he wasn't over with me yet…"

Reggie's eyes were already half-shut. She had to rest her cheek on her hand to keep from falling. Not that it was helping; already she had almost fallen face first on the mud twenty two times. Right now, she was already nodding of to sleep, barely able to keep awake.

_I don't know _why _I still haven't kicked his butt…oh yeah, it's because you're not allowed, _she thought.

"Hey everyone!"

Reggie snapped back to reality, glad for the interruption. She turned around to see Aang emerge from the trees. He looked happy now…well, happier. Zuko followed, rubbing his head.

"Hey Aang," Katara greeted. "Ready, for your waterbending lessons?"

"Sure am, Katara!"

Katara smiled. "Well, okay. I'll just finish cleaning up then we can start."

Aang took a seat beside Reggie while Zuko took a seat beside Iroh. Reggie could see that his temper had improved at least. By point-twenty five percent.

"How was your first lesson, Aang?" Iroh asked calmly as he sipped another cup of tea that magically appeared out of nowhere once again. The Avatar just rubbed his head as he stared at the ground.

"Well, I haven't actually learned firebending, yet," he said guiltily.

"Oh, I see. Zuko must be a hard teacher," the old man said as he looked at his nephew warily.

"No, it's not that. I kinda just meditated for the past two hours."

Iroh nodded slowly in an approving manner. "I see. And how was it."

"Reggie thought me actually." Here, he beamed at the girl beside him, who looked bored by this conversation. "Her way actually did wonders. Now I feel like a whole new man."

"Actually, you're not a man. You're twelve years old," Reggie pointed out. She then turned to Zuko and smirked. The prince noticed this, apparently. "What?"

"Nothing," she said innocently. "It's just that I kinda noticed some sort of liquid around your mouth, right about here angry boy." She said as she indicated which spot by pointing around her own mouth.

Zuko, wide eyed, abruptly felt around his mouth. Again, he felt the liquid ooze down his cheek.

Reggie clapped mockingly. "Wow, Zuko. Your spit actually reached your neck this time. You should be proud."

"I thought you said you wouldn't annoy me for three more weeks!" He yelled. "You made a promise!"

"I know. And I'm keeping it," Reggie said. "I said I wouldn't annoy you if you tried meditating for half-an-hour. You tried it for two-and-a-half."

Zuko glared at her. Aang blinked and Iroh grinned. It seemed like that was the scenario for an eternity, until Zuko stomped off towards the edge of the forest, as far away as possible from that ball-busting teenager.

Katara waved over at the Avatar. "Hey, Aang! Waterbending time!"

Aang was about to run over to her when suddenly, an arrow hit the ground in front of him. He just narrowly missed it. Another step more and he would've died. Another group of arrows followed. Aang almost looked like he was dancing, what with all the dodging he was doing.

"Aang!" Katara shouted out even though she didn't know how saying your friend's name out loud would help. She looked around scanning for any source of water. There was none. The river was too far away for her to reach and her water pouch was already empty. She was thinking of refilling it for quite a while now and already she was regretting it.

Then she felt a shadow loom on her from behind. She turned around slowly to see a huge boy looking down with a stupid expression. She recognized him. He was one of Jet's lackeys. Pipsqueak.

She stood there looking up at the boy when a burst of flame pushed him out of the way, in his place jumped Zuko. "What are you doing standing there?"

Katara blinked at him, completely surprised. "Sorry about that."

Reggie stood there wide eyed. Aang was dodging a bunch of arrows while Katara was being saved by Zuko from what looked like a giant and ugly toad. Reggie felt obliged to call it stupid-looking as well.

Then other people jumped down from the trees. She could at least count fifty of them. Now, that was a lot; quite a lot.

She noticed the toad stand up, quite dazed, as he rubbed his head and moaned. He got thrown of to her direction so now she was the closest thing he had as target practice.

_Great Reg, you decide to join the Avatar and now you're going to be pummeled by a giant, ugly, big-nosed, stupid-looking toad whom I bet doesn't even know how to read…just great._

The 'toad' made its way towards her, readying his hands for what Reggie predicted was quite a lot of squeezing. But she wasn't afraid. Oh no, the day she'd be afraid was the day she would go on a diet. She stood there, with her bored expression with the 'toad' about to kill her when suddenly Sokka jumped on him and hit his head with his tool…thing. Reggie didn't know what to call it actually; it wasn't sharp so it wasn't a knife. It just looked like it was good for bonking people on the head with. (A/N: Yeah, what do you call that anyway? His other weapon aside from his boomerang, the one with the orb thing in the middle.)

"What are you doing?" Sokka exclaimed as for the second time, the toad fell back on the ground. "Didn't you see that? He was about to kill you? Can't you at least punch him in the face?"

Reggie raised an eyebrow. "Well, sor-_ree_ if I needed some help." Sokka ignored her as he ran towards someone else. While he did so, she mumbled to herself, "I didn't know it was illegal now."

There were exactly forty eight people ambushing them, Toph could sense that.

She felt a strong vibration coming towards her. She narrowed her eyes into slits and created a barrier of rock in front of her. There was a loud booming sound as what was about to come towards her hit her barrier. She let go of that barrier created a crack in the ground.

Crack would be an understatement, because as it progressed towards her attacker, the crack became big enough to make a body fall through it, which is what it did exactly. Toph smirked as she heard the man's scream.

Then she felt another vibration coming. This time it felt like someone was charging straight at her.

She lifted the earth and formed it into multiple daggers and charged them at whomever. It worked. The attacker shouted, he ran away and jumped purposely into the river, shaking apparently.

Then she felt an irregular vibration coming from the middle of the campsite. The steps were light so it could only mean that it was 'Twinkle Toes'. What was he doing anyway? The vibration told her that he was…..dancing? But then the vibrations also told her that multiple sharp objects, arrows most likely, where coming straight at him and he could do nothing but dodge them.

She stomped her foot and immediately, a roof made out of rock covered Aang. He looked at it for a while then back at Toph, smiling. Now he had time for attacking.

Katara flew right into a tree. She had been hit nine times already and she could do nothing about them. She felt so helpless without her element by her side. She didn't want to rely on Zuko to protect her; that would only seem too weak. Not only to the prince but also to her.

She barely even knew what happened. First she was calling out to Aang and now she was being pushed around like some kind of doll. At first, she was the main target of the attackers as it seemed she was the most vulnerable without her bending, and then they noticed that a firebender was saving her every time they tried to do critical damage to her so they decided to get Reggie, who also seemed very vulnerable. She wasn't bending and she wasn't attacking so of course they would think that. But then they also noticed one or the other was also there to save her so they decided to just scatter anyway.

A dark haired guy was about to jump on her when Zuko pushed her out of the way and sent a string of fire towards the guy who burned to a singe after that.

Zuko glared at her. "Can't you do _anything_ without your waterbending?"

Katara glared back. "Well I'm sorry if I didn't really get the same training as you did. It's not like we have really good masters from where I came, you know. I mean…look at my brother."

The pair looked over to their side to see Sokka running of to attack someone while shouting when he tripped face first into the mud.

They looked at each other again. "See what I mean?" Katara said.

Then four more guys were about to attack when Zuko also gave them a beating. Katara's heart skipped a beat as she saw that one of them was also familiar. She knew his name was 'The Duke', who was also, she recognized, another one of Jet's sidekicks. No it couldn't be. Jet couldn't possibly be here.

_Jet_. How she hated that name. She didn't even know why she thought of it. Then as if on cue, their attackers stopped and turned to face the middle of the campsite. Everything went silent. It was obvious enough that the group was confused. Very confused.

A tall figure jumped down. Katara's heart was starting to race now. The wild cropped hair, the stalk in his mouth, the cocky grin, and the cruel brown eyes. Jet. The name hissed in her mind like venom.

"I think we've done enough damage for today, boys," he said, acting cool again. But in truth, he was just another cheesy excuse for a guy.

His eyes scanned around and then fell on Aang and Sokka. "Hey there, Aang. Glad to see you're doing okay."

Clearly, the Avatar also despised the snake. "Jet. What are you doing here?" He demanded.

The teenager merely shrugged his shoulders. His eyes darted to Sokka. He was about to make another comment when he noticed Iroh standing near the Water Tribe boy.

The old man merely waved at him. "Hello there. So you have caught us in the act, finally."

Jet's eyes quickly filled with hatred and anger. He quickly turned around and his eyes locked on to Zuko. His fists were shaking. From Katara's point of view, the way they shook and they way his eyes looked fierce scared her a bit. But she did have to wonder why he was this angry.

Then his gaze turned on to Katara, herself. He seemed to calm down now and his cocky stare came back. "Katara, nice seeing you again."

"Don't you greet me like you don't remember anything," she said.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Zuko's look of surprise. That was another thing to wonder about.

"And how did you escape anyway? The last time I saw you, you iced to a tree." (A/N: In my story, Katara and Sokka didn't meet Jet in Ba Sing Se.)

Jet shrugged and sighed. "Do you have to bring back such hard memories Katara? I was iced there for five days, you know."

Then Zuko joined in. "Well, the last time I saw you, you were already in police custody. How did you escape?"

Jet's eyes turned cold at the sound of Zuko's voice, but he answered anyway. "Smellerbee and Longshot helped me escape. Ever since then, I've been trying to get more teammates. I got around fifty of them; I even convinced Pipsqueak and The Duke to come with me again."

From behind him, Reggie snorted. He turned around and his gaze locked on to her and Toph who was beside the snickering girl.

"Smellerbee? Pipsqueak? Man, do I feel sorry for you dudes. I mean, who in the whole world would name themselves like that."

Jet strode over to the two girls. "Well, well. It looks like you got yourselves some new teammates." He looked at Toph for a while then back at Reggie. He held her chin up. "Maybe I'll get something out of this. A right-hand girl good for keeping me company."

Reggie was completely insulted by this. Right-hand girl? Company? No one in her whole life had ever said that to her and got away in one piece.

"Okay, dude," she snapped. "I don't know who you think you are but seriously, you'd better lay off. Who the hell said I'd be your 'Right-hand Girl', huh?" Jet started to back away as she progressed towards him. "I swear I am going to make you regret the day you ever said that." She was poking Jet's chest now. "If there's one thing I hate more than people stealing my food, it's guys who hit on me." Reggie was too busy giving him a lesson that she didn't notice a very tall guy progress towards her, with a wooden club held high. "So why don't you, go away and back off-" _thud. _The guy hit her on the head and she fell on the ground.

Katara watched Reggie fall on the ground. That was the last thing she could remember. After that, she felt something hit her head, as well and then nothing more than darkness engulfing her vision.

**Man that was long. My fingers are sore from typing this. So as the chapter title explains, Jet returns. Man, do I hate that dude. That is why I emphasize on the snake he is. **

**Jet: it's not my fault. Blame Mike and Bryan. They made me!**

**Me: Look into my eyes Jet. Do I look like I care?**

**Jet: No**

**Me: Then we're understood. **


	7. Escape

**Peoples I am back!!! If you look into my profile you will learn that I don't like revealing myself…But I have just realized that I revealed to you that I live in the Philippines. Damn me… I don't like it when people know something about me….**

**Disclaimer: From the past chapters, you have also learned that I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender…yet another thing that I have revealed…Oo…????**

Escape

_Her corpse lay on the snow. Her black hair was scattered behind her like a halo. Her body was shattered and her blood rushed out, dirtying the snow. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was agape. She was dead. If you had seen her, that would've been the first thing that came to your mind. Death._

_Feet trudged on the snow. They were weary from scaling the mountain. Those feet belonged to an old lady, who was now overcome with sadness. Their people were dying under the cruel hand of their ruler, the reason for her sadness. _

_Then she saw the little girl, yet another thing to be sad about. She crouched down beside the dead body and closed the open eyes. Then she scooped her up, completely ignoring the blood. The poor little girl was young and needed another chance to live. That is why the old lady ignored the protests of her mind. The protests that were completely against what she was about to do. _

Katara woke up and opened her eyes groggily. She moaned as she stood up and rubbed her head. Everything was a complete daze.

Then her mind stopped swirling and became clear. Where was she? She was in a square room made out of stone. The wall in front of her was barred completely by metal bars. She gripped them and looked around. In front of her was another room identical to hers. By now, she had concluded that she was in a cell. But why? She would've thought that she would wake up to trees and Sokka's snoring.

Then it hit her. She had been captured by Jet. She cursed herself for not remembering any sooner. But then where were the others? She was alone in the cell and there was no sign of life in the other cells.

"Hello?" She called out. Nothing. Silence. Her voice did nothing but echo along the corridor of prisons.

She was alone, so of course the first thing that came to her was that she had to escape on her own.

Now it was Aang's turn to wake up. Actually, he didn't wake up on his own. He woke up to the sound of a girl's voice calling out to him.

"Hey, Twinkle Toes. Wake up."

He got up and immediately realized that he was locked up in a prison cell. That was weird. He didn't remember Jet owning any prison house. But then who said Jet actually owned anything but stolen items. No doubt the jail house had belonged to someone else until Jet raided it and scared the people off.

"Twinkle Toes!"

"Toph?"

"Finally, you're awake."

Aang looked over to the cell opposite him. There was a hunched figure in the shadows, but even if it were hidden Aang could easily see that it was his earthbender companion. He scootered over to the bars.

"Toph. What happened?"

"We all got knocked out from behind. When I woke up we were already here. Who's this Jet guy anyway? I take it you know him."

"Oh, he's nobody. Nothing more than a thief. Anyway, why haven't you escaped, yet? You can earthbend, can't you?"

"I can but I've felt the vibrations around. I can't sense any exits. It's all a big maze so I thought that I had to figure out a way to get out before I use any earthbending. Do you have any ideas?"

Aang heaved a heavy sigh. He can't figure out anything. If Toph can't figure out an exit then more so to him.

"No, I haven't."

Reggie groaned. She had been awake hours ago. A while ago in the forest she had already sensed the guy sneak up behind her; obviously about to knock her unconscious. But she didn't know why she didn't stop him. Well, maybe an excuse to get some sleep. That was the most probable reason but she was regretting it greatly.

She was in a cell. That was obvious enough. There was no one else in the corridor of prisons which only meant that the others were in another group of cells, but why oh why did she have to get the nearest ones to the two fat bodyguards?

Ever since she woke up, they have said nothing that proved they had an actual brain. If Iroh's droning was unbearable, this was torture.

The guy eating some kind of stew was the first to speak. "Hey, Dorgy."

"What?" the other guy replied.

"Guess why they call me Stew."

"Uhh, I don't know. Maybe it's a nickname."

"I know it's a nickname, idiot. But from what name?"

"I dunno'. Maybe…Francis?" (A/N: I know they don't have those kinds of names there, but I couldn't resist.)

Reggie slapped her forehead. "You big boob! How could the name Stew come from Francis?" She said as she gripped the bars. "His name is Stew 'cause he eats stew you imbrain! Get it? Stew eats stew."

Stew turned towards her. "You talkin' to me?"

Reggie groaned. "No I was talking to your friend over there. But I'd be obliged to call you an imbrain as well."

"Do you want us to get rid o' ya?" Stew said as he put down his stew and cracked his knuckles.

"Well, I'd rather go away than listen to dumb and dumber talk about senseless drivel."

"What's drivel?" Dorgy asked. Reggie was only too happy to imply what it meant. "Junk, crappy, idiotic, stupid, slobber, dim-witted, unintelligent, brainless, mindless talk.

"I say we get rid o' her," Stew said.

"I do, too," Dorgy agreed.

They got a key hanging from their belt and opened her cell. She was pushed out through the door leading out of the cell corridor, right into another dark corridor, but this time made out of pure stone with no cells in sight.

The door behind her slammed shut. From behind it, Stew and Dorgy shouted, "And you betta' make sure you don't come back!" And then the unmistakable sound of a loud raspberry.

Reggie blinked quite a lot of times. "Well, that was easy." She shrugged and made her way down the corridor looking for the others.

"Huh?"

Aang looked up to the opposite cell. "What's wrong, Toph?"

Even in the shadows, Aang could make the other twelve year old concentrating. "I heard something. It was loud. Something like a door slamming. Then another vibration in the air. Someone was shouting or singing really loudly."

"Do you think it was, Jet?"

"Maybe, but your friend doesn't sound like the type who slams a door then shouts, much less sing."

"He's not my friend," Aang hissed.

"Wait," Toph said, sudden alert in her voice. "Someone's walking this way."

Aang went over to the bars and strained his head to look at the door that obviously went out. "Who is it?"

Toph paused. After several moments of discerning whose footsteps were those, she said. "It's Reggie."

"So you mean she got out?"

"Yup. I think we'd better get out now." Aang nodded and then stepped back. With a quick motion of his hands a hole appeared, leading outside the metal bars. Toph didn't need such complexity. Being a metalbender as well, she did nothing more than bend the bars to make her fit through it without any problems.

She met Aang outside his hole just as she walked out of her cell. They nodded for no particular reason then made their way out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie strode casually with her hands behind her head, looking for any sign of life. Her footsteps echoed all around making the corridor even more lonesome. It wasn't that she was lonely or anything, she was just bored. She was the type of girl that wanted action and walking in a stone corridor didn't really appeal to her list of actions.

She spotted a door to her left. That was a sign of life. Maybe someone was in there. Before she even reached the wooden door, it burst open, leading Toph and Aang outside.

"Reggie! Am I glad to see you," Aang said, beaming up at her. She did nothing but roll her eyes.

"So you two are the only ones in there?" She asked.

"Uh-huh," they replied in unison.

It figured life wouldn't let her escape that easily. Of course, she had to find the others as well seeing as how she's a teammate and all. She missed the days when she worked alone with only her handheld and PDA by her side. She would've thought about her ipod, too, but that got lost at sea. (Of course, for anyone else in the modern world, that would be a shame, but to Reggie, it just meant a chance to get a newer model of an ipod.)

"How did you get out?" Aang asked.

Reggie smirked. "Trust me, all you need are the right words and fate will practically lead you out the door."

"Well why don't you use those words again so that 'fate' can lead us to the other's cell door and onto the door of the exit," Toph said sarcastically.

Reggie grinned. "Sorry, that's a trade secret."

------------------------

Zuko kicked the metal bar again. He had been kicking for nearly and hour and yet he still hadn't made any progress with that metal bar. Actually, it started out as Zuko kicking it in hopes of getting out, but now he was just kicking it because he hated it.

He stomped over to the corner of his cell and glared at the bar. It "glared" back. Why did that bar have to mock him so much? See! It was sneering at him. Zuko was positive it was.

_Get a hold of yourself Zuko, you're getting paranoid._

Zuko scowled. He didn't like it when he was getting into an argument with himself. And he certainly didn't like it when he thought a simple metal bar was being diabolical with him. There! He saw it again. The metal bar was smirking at him.

Zuko slapped his forehead and he shook his head frantically trying not to get crazy.

_Come on, Zuko. Do you think Katara will like a crazy and paranoid guy?_

Zuko snapped to a straight. Where did that come from? Two things happened in his mind. He used that Water Tribe peasant's name, which he never even used in his head and he thought about not going crazy because said girl will not like it. He blinked then he blinked again. He was definitely going crazy. He needed to escape this prison…fast.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Aang, Toph and Reggie walked down the corridor. Well, they had been doing that for half-an-hour already. They had been walking in silence all the while, looking and listening for any sign of their companions.

Of course, walking for half-an-hour in silence with nothing to see but a bunch of rocks was boring them to death, so imagine their happiness when they found a door. The first thought that came to their mind was _Finally! A door! Maybe someone we know is in there!_ At least, that was supposed to be what all three were thinking about. Reggie, seeing as how she's new to the group, forgot they should be looking for someone and the first thing that came to her mind was, _Finally! A door! A change in scenery!!! _Then she noticed Aang and Toph and instantly remembered that she wasn't working alone anymore and so another thought raced to her mind. _Oh yeah…right. We're supposed to be looking for 'Angry Boy' and the others. Damn the world._

Aang pulled the handle of the door and found it locked. He pulled again but to no avail.

"Stand back," Toph said. She was about to hit the door with a huge boulder when she felt a firm grip on her shoulder. She sensed that it was Reggie's own hand.

"Wait," she said. "A commotion as loud as your earthbending could stir up quite a lot of guards."

"Well, what do you want me to do? The other's might be in there," Toph said, getting impatient.

Reggie smirked. Of course to Toph, she didn't see Reggie actually smirk. "Toph, in situations like this what you need is a person who has become an expert at being in prison."

Toph relaxed a little. Partly because Reggie was right and partly because she was curious as what the teenager was up to.

Reggie strode over to the door casually. What she was about to do was the oldest trick in the book: the slide-a-card-down-the-door trick. The people here didn't know what a card was, at least a hard packed, plastic card, so naturally, they didn't know this trick.

As she strode over to the door, she took out her platinum credit card. She had learned that it was not only useful financially but also in escape plans. That is why she brought it along with her even in a place where they didn't use credit cards.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko rested his forehead to his knees. There was no flaw in the small room and the metal bars were just to evil to let him out. He sighed then he heard a commotion outside the jail corridor he was in.

He crawled over to the bars and gripped them while straining to hear what was going on. There was a noise of the door being pulled open but then it was locked. So much for that. But then a thought came over to Zuko.

_If they didn't know that the door was locked, could it be that the people outside is someone I know?_

Of course he knew that it was easy to forget something as easy as a door being locked but he had to hope in something didn't he? More noises then another 'door noise'. It was being opened, it was something else. Like someone was sliding something down the side of the door.

Then the door clicked. It was pulled open to reveal Reggie with a triumphant grin. "And _voila_!" She said as she raised up her arms like a magician would after a magic trick. It was obvious to Zuko that she had somehow opened the locked door with no physical force whatsoever.

Aang rushed into the corridor and stopped right in front of Zuko's cell. "Zuko!" He cried out. The Fire Prince had to wince at the loud sound the Avatar had made. "Quiet, you fool," he hissed. "If anyone hears us, we have no chance of escaping."

Aang realized this and nodded. He then motioned over to the earthbender who was walking towards them before she was even called over.

The Avatar stepped back to let the girl take up her stance. Zuko, aware of her metalbending abilities stepped back as well. The bars bent to the side allowing Zuko passage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Finding Katara's cell was easy enough. It was just a few meters down Zuko's corridor. When the cell opened, Katara jumped right into Toph and Aang's arms. "I am so glad to see you!"

Reggie rolled her eyes. She wasn't like most girls. She was the type of girl who preferred seeing others squirm and struggle and be comically suffered to hugging and kissing. Obvious enough she wasn't the romantic type. "Okay, can we go now?"

Zuko seemed to agree as well. He turned heel and walked down the corridor looking for another door leaving the others slightly confused by his actions, everyone that is, except Reggie, who knew for a fact that seeing Katara hugging Aang made him only the slightest bit jealous. Naturally, the Fire Prince didn't even admit it to himself.

The group jogged over to follow him.

They had caught up to them when they bump into who else but Sokka and Iroh.

"Sokka!" Katara cried out silently.

"You guys! I thought we would never find you!" Sokka also cried out as he hugged his sister.

Iroh beamed at the group. "Well, nice to see we're all complete and still quite healthy," he said being the optimistic type.


	8. Escape from a Trap right into Another

**Man that last chapter was long. I was going to put this chapter and the previous one together but then I thought it would be too long. Oh yeah and in the last chapter, the scene with Stew and Dorgy doesn't belong to me. It was an idea that I got from Artemis: Fowl book three. The drivel and Francis part was there though not word per word. The actual names of the stupid people were Pex and Chips. So…yeah. Oh, and don't blame me for making Zuko paranoid. I just the type who like to see people squirm. Especially those that tend to have a cool image. Oh, and I'm sorry for the uber long wait. I have guests here at my house: we're hosting a New Year party and all. Well…sorry and thanks for the all the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender….sigh…..too bad I don't own a genie as well.**

- - - - - - - - -

Escape from a Trap Right into another

The group had been walking, no jogging for hours now and still they couldn't find an exit. They haven't even seen Momo and Appa yet. Apart from that, they had met a few guards along their way so they just had to hope that passerby's wouldn't mind a few unconscious bodies lying on the ground.

"Toph, can't you sense anything? We've been running in this maze for hours," Sokka whined.

"No I can't," Toph spat out. "I can't even sense anyone else aside from you people, clearly. Everything is so fuzzy. I can sense Momo and Appa but their too far away for me to know which direction their in."

Sokka groaned. "Great. If you can't get us out of here, then who will?"

Iroh grinned at him. "We just have to rely on Lady Luck this time."

This time, everyone groaned.

Reggie was in the rear so the group didn't notice her pause in mid-step; instead they kept on running down the corridor.

She looked behind her, straining her ears to hear what seemed to be footsteps following them. These were experts and kept their footfalls silent and muffled. That was something to worry about. These aren't the kind that attacked them; no this was the kind that would kill them when needed. There were at least ten of them. That was a lot seeing as they felt like ruthless killers. She knew about Jet. She had already gotten all info on him from Ritz (A/N: That is her best friend. A.k.a: best resource in the world.) And from what she's heard, Jet wasn't the kind to hire people with killer firebender instinct. No, this was way too weird.

The footsteps were nearing.

She looked around her. If the group was going to get out of this alive, she had to make sure that these guards won't catch up to them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Zuten had heard the others escaping. He thought that the other guards would've gotten them but someone else doing his rounds reported right back to him that everyone he had sent was lying unconscious on the ground.

Now he was running after them with his team behind him. They were trained professionals and yet they were going after a group of snot-nosed kids. They kept their footsteps muffled so that their prey would let their guard down a bit.

He heard their voices so he quickened his pace. He thought he was going to overtake them when something fell on the ground. He paused to observe it. It was a small golden coin.

He was engrossed too much in his observation and curiosity that he didn't hear the sound of his men falling one by one on the ground. He then decided to go on following the travelers who by now had gotten some distance. He mentally cursed himself for acting so childish by getting distracted so easily by a gold coin.

He turned around to say that they were going to continue pursuit but when he did turn around, he saw his team knocked unconscious, all sprawled on the floor. He was too surprised by that that he didn't notice a shadow jump down from the ceiling. He felt a light tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to see a black-haired girl with a wide leer on her face.

"Hi, my name is of no importance to you so I feel I should just skip to the point," she said.

Then the last image he saw was the girl drawing back her fist and a hard hit in his face. As he fell, he mentally cursed himself again for acting so unprofessional in the face of his prey.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie smirked at the people out cold in front of her.

She took another small glance before running off to catch up with the group.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie caught up after a few moments. The gang didn't seem to have noticed her temporary disappearance.

"Well, Toph, did you find an exit route yet?"

"No I haven't!" The earthbender spat out as they came across an intersection, for the seventh time.

"Now what!" Sokka cried out in frustration.

"We go this way," said Reggie as she took the corridor to the right. Before she had caught up with the group, she had taken out her PDA to have a little chat with Ritz. She requested that her best friend try to find an escape route. This was no challenge to the technical genius, even though she had said that her readings were fuzzy and that everything except the Aang group was constantly disappearing and then appearing. She said she would look that up in a moment but finding an escape took no longer than five seconds, which was the amount of time, that it took Reggie to memorize it. Ritz had also made sure that the route they took would also lead them to Appa and Momo.

"How do you know this is the way out?" Katara asked.

"Like Iroh said: Put your trust in Lady Luck."

The others didn't argue. After all, Reggie was the one who had taken Azula of their backs not to mention the first one to escape.

After they took another couple of turns and twists, Toph said out loud, "I feel it! I feel Appa and Momo. They're not to far off."

"Told ya'," Reggie said, with a smirk on her face again.

Sure enough when they took another turn into a corridor they could see a square of light not to far off. They were finally out. Everyone subconsciously made a mental note never to doubt their new companion again.

Aang quickened his pace and when he reached out, an over-eager lemur jumped right into his arms crooning and cocking its head in a questioning manner again. The Avatar rolled into the ground only to be met by an even more eager tongue. He laughed as he tried to wipe away as much slobber as he can. "It's good to see you, too, Appa."

They were on a wide, wooden balcony overlooking the most majestic sight.

Katara couldn't stipple a gasp at what met her eyes. In front of her stood a vast Earth Kingdom city, bigger than Ba Sing Se itself. She couldn't even see the end of it. It stood there in all its glory and vastness.

Even Reggie was surprised, and that was saying something since Reggie getting surprised was very rare.

Aang stood up as he looked at the city in awe. "Wow, what do you think that is?"

"I don't know. In my previous years, I have never set my eyes on this city before," Iroh said, overwhelmed as well.

"Well we might as well try to take a look inside," Sokka said. "Maybe someone knows the way out of here. And besides, we need to restock on supplies."

Everyone agreed and climbed on Appa. Zuko had to hesitate a little before climbing on.

"Appa, yip-yip," Aang said to the bison as Momo jumped up on his shoulders. The giant bison thumped the ground with is tail and then took off, glad of the flight.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It has been forty five minutes since they had been flying over the city and from time-to-time, they would fly down to look at where they had gotten themselves. And in those forty five minutes, they had realized that there was no sign of life anywhere. Not even a wolf-rat (A/N: Okay, I invented that animal so therefore it belongs to me).

"Okay, we came, we saw, can we leave now?" Toph complained as she leaned against the saddle side.

"I've tried," Aang said. "But I can't seem to get anywhere."

"Great, we can't find an exit…_again_," Reggie whined as she threw up her hands in frustration.

"I don't get it. We didn't get that much distance between us and Jet's hideout and now I can't even see the edge of the city," Katara said as she looked over the side of the saddle.

Everyone except the two firebenders looked over at Reggie, who was also observing the wide city. When she noticed the gazes on her, she had to raise an eyebrow and ask, "What?"

"You're the one who seems to be getting us out of stuff," Sokka said. "Why don't you get us out of this one?"

Reggie turned back to her bored look with her eyelids slightly droopy. "Oh, so _now _I'm the only ones who can save us? Gee, way to put the pressure on me."

- - - - - - - - - -

Night had fallen and still they found no way out. With all the traveling they've done, they still haven't found even the edge of the city.

Appa moaned. No one could blame him for that; he had been flying for over a day without a break. Of course he would be tired.

Aang sighed. "We need to land, guys. Appa needs to rest."

"We understand, Aang," Katara said. "We'll take a break tonight then tomorrow we can start looking for a way out of this."

"If there is one," Toph mumbled.

There was no need to set up camp. Seeing as there was no one there anyway, they chose an empty hotel to stay in. They thought staying together would be for the best but then they wouldn't fit in only one room, so they decided that the guys would take the room next to the girls. They chose a very expensive looking hotel so the rooms inside were very, very big. There was more than enough room for Appa, which is why the bison, along with Momo, bunked up with the guys.

Katara was fixing her bed when she noticed Reggie on the balcony, thinking about something while looking up at the stars. She walked over to her and she can't help but admire her eyes. (A/N: No! Katara is not a lesbo or gay! Why? Can't a person stare at the eyes of the same sex and admire them in a friendly way and nothing more?!?!?!!!) They were so blue and the way they shone in the moonlight dazzled her. It reminder her strongly of her mother.

Reggie apparently noticed Katara staring at her. "Ya' know I can see you. Whadoo' you want?"

Katara snapped back to reality. "It's nothing. I was just wondering what you were doing here."

The other teen girl sighed. "It's just that I can't help but feel this city is so dangerous. Like we shouldn't be here. It's not that I'm scared, it's just that, we won't be that much good to this world if we were dead."-she sighed again, heavier this time-"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it. We can't even find an exit."

Katara put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Look, it's just a city. There no people here-"

"And that's just it," Reggie cut her off. "Look at this place, Katara. It's perfectly intact. There's no flaw. There's no break in the walls and not even a crack. Tell me this. How can a city remain maintained and completely clean when there's no one to tend to it? And it's not even on the map."

She had a point. Things were starting to creep her out. "I don't know, Reggie. I just wish we could get out of here." Katara let her hand slide down the girl's shoulders. When she did, Reggie walked off towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"Just going out to stretch my legs. Don't worry about me," she replied.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Reggie was outside and had made sure that no one was watching her from the balconies on top, she took out her PDA and the screen buzzed to life. It revealed the face of another teenage girl, a few months older than Zuko with rectangular glasses, black hair with brown bangs and streaks, a choker around her neck and ember green eyes.

"Hey, I was about to call you," the girl said. "I have something on Jet."

"Whatever, listen, Ritz, I need you to check on something else-"

"What came out was really weird," Ritz interrupted. "When you left, the place completely disappeared from my screen. Even the people inside it are gone. Since I couldn't get into that place, I made a file check on Jet, it said that he was still in the Ba Sing Se prison."

Reggie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"He was never there with you. I checked and I checked. I even checked the files on the other guys. The guy you knocked out: his name was Zuten. He was presumed dead three years ago. He got killed by a Fire Nation soldier."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yup; and that fat guy, Stew"-Reggie cringed at the thought-"He got murdered a month ago. They found poison in his…ah…stew. All the other guys that are supposed to be in there are either, dead, in prison or living a happy life in the Earth Kingdom."

"Wait, are you absolutely sure? I saw Jet and that Stew guy only hours ago. How can they be in prison or dead at the same time?"

In the screen, Ritz leaned back on her chair. "I don't know, Reg. The computer never lies. Tell me, have I ever been wrong in the past four years we've been together?"

Silence met.

"I thought so," Ritz said as she rolled her eyes. "So, you said you wanted me to check on something?"

"Yeah, and I think it might have a connection to what you just said. We just landed in this city. We can't find a way out, as in, nothing. We can't even see the edge of the city anymore; it's endless! And the weird thing is, there's no one here. Not even a rat or something. And yet, everything is so clean and well maintained. None of us has heard of this city and it's not on the map. I'm even starting to think that I've landed in some kinda' cross between the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis and the Earth Kingdom."

The girl in the screen pointed a ball point pen at her. "Technically, the presumed Atlantis was found beneath the Bermuda Triangle sea-"

"Look that's not the point!" Reggie sighed. "Look, why don't you go look into that while I go check on the others. I'll beep you in a while."

"Sure. G'night by the way. And oh yeah, good luck getting killed out there," she said mockingly.

The screen closed. "Shut up will ya'"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Katara was about to lie down on her bed when Reggie came back. "Wow that was fast."

"I just needed to walk around for a bit. Why? do you want me to go away again?" she replied as she flopped down on her bed.

"No it's not that, I was just wondering what you were doing outside. And Reggie, I just realized something."

"What?" Reggie's voice was muffled since her face was buried in a pillow.

"We're low on supplies, right?"

"Yeah," Reg and Toph said in unison.

"Well, we can't restock here since there's no one around to actually make supplies and since we can't go to another city since we can't get out of this place."

"We don't need to restock," Toph said. "We can always get anything we need from this place. I mean, it's empty. No one's stopping us or anything."

"Yes, that's true. But…"

"Get on with the point already!" Reggie snapped as she got her head out of the pillow.

"We can restock on supplies here, but what about food?"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

This is the part where Reggie's eyes widen with horror. She was the type of girl that ate every three hours. If a life without food would be miserable for a normal human being, think what misery Reggie has to go through.

She ran both her hands down the side of her face and she started to mumble something.

"Reggie?" Katara asked. "Are you okay?"

Her mumbling got a bit louder but it was still inaudible.

"Okay, you're starting to freak me out," Toph said as she, too, raised an eyebrow.

"No food!" The girl yelled. "No food, no food, no food, no food, no FOOD!!!"

Katara and Toph stared wide eyed at the girl-gone-crazy. "Wow," Katara said to Toph. "You'd think with her being the eldest female around here, she'd be the most mature."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Crash!_

Zuko cringed. How was a guy supposed to meditate properly when the room next-door was having a crash-out-loud party. He cringed again. Someone was shouting in the other room. It didn't sound like anything dangerous happening. It was most probably Reggie. Then two other people shouting; from what it sounded like, it was most likely the Water Tribe girl and the earthbender princess trying to calm her down, whatever's not there to be calm about.

"Hey, what was that?" The Water Tribe boy said.

"Do you think they are having a party?" His uncle asked.

"They don't sound like they're having a party," the Avatar said as he folded his blanket

Since Zuko was in the balcony, he could hear what they were saying through their own balcony. "Food!!! We're gonna run outa' food!!" Reggie was screaming.

He turned over to face the room where the boy, the Avatar and his Uncle were. "They're shouting because we haven't got any food to supply us with." The moment he said that was the moment to regret it.

Everyone in the room, except for the bison and the lemur started to panic. Why shouldn't they panic? They were locked up in some city with no way out with no food at all, but Zuko was confident about getting out. He couldn't be trapped forever in here.

He cringed again. A blue vase set on the bed-side table fell down and crashed. Now, both the room next door and this room was full noise. He gave up meditating and flopped down on the bed instead.


	9. Seperation

**Once again I am so sorry for the late updates. Christmas break is has ended meaning less time for writing fanfics, since my mom won't allow me to use the internet unless its Friday, the weekend or if there are no classes the following day, except for research purposes. I as so sorry and to an anonymous writer which I cannot reply to, yes I know that it was Zuko that saved Aang, blah, blah, blah….but GEEZ…Can't you take a hint? Zuko being saved by the Aang Gang is purely fanfictional! But thank you for taking time to read my story though and thank you for all the reviews, especially Avatarfanatic5. **

**Disclaimer: I'm very depressed…I don't own Avatar.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Separation

The ceiling met Katara's eyes. She stood up from her bed and looked at the balcony. It was still nighttime with the stars still high in the sky, twinkling for all their glory. She had been having a good sleep after calming down Reggie a while ago, so she saw no reason why she would wake up.

She looked around her. Reggie was still snoring on the couch while Toph lay asleep as well on the other bed next to hers. Again she was the first to wake up. There didn't seem to be any noise from the other room, which meant that everyone there as well was asleep.

Then she heard it: a silent moaning. She thought she had only been dreaming it but now she could see that it was none too real. It sounded like a woman. Not only that, it also seemed that it came from far away and yet so near. But that can't be. They were the only ones in the whole city. Could it be that someone had walked in here as well?

Katara got off her bed and headed for the door. If someone did get trapped here then it was only natural that she helped. But something was nagging at the back of her mind that she shouldn't go anywhere, but why would she listen to it? It was just a deserted city after all; what could possibly go wrong?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Something creaked outside the door. Zuko snapped his eyes open when he heard that sound. He got up and walked over to the door. He opened it only the slightest bit to see it was the waterbender in the hallway making her way for the stairs. What was she doing sneaking around late at night?

When she was out of sight down the stairs leading to the lobby, he opened the door to its full extent and walked out to follow her. No doubt she would only get into trouble.

He swung the door behind him in anticipation of it closing. He didn't notice the door being stopped by a very curious lemur that had just woken up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Momo cocked its head. It was dreaming so peacefully about bugs and leechi nuts when he heard the firebender open the door. It noticed the firebender get out. Why was he doing that? It turned around to look at his master-friend (Aang). He saw him sleeping ever so peacefully on the large bed. Momo cocked its head again. Should it go follow the firebender or stay behind with his master-friend? He decided that staying with his master-friend is best so he went over to the boy's bed and curled up right next to his face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Aang felt soft fur run against his cheek, he woke up to find Momo curled up right next to his face. He pulled up a slight smile and was about to go to sleep when he noticed the door slightly open.

He stood up and looked around to find that one of the beds were empty. He examined the room to see who had left. Sokka was there, and Iroh was sleeping on the bed next to his. It was obvious enough that Appa was there, seeing as it's hard to miss a gigantic bison, Momo was sleeping on his pillow, which meant that it was Zuko that went off. Where did he go?

He paused for several minutes before he got off of bed and headed for the doorway.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now Toph wasn't the type to mind people's business. That's why she ignored Katara when the she left and went right back to sleep, but then she felt another vibration, this time coming from the next room. It was the 'hot head', Zuko. She ignored that as well. Another vibration made its way to her. It was fairly small for a human so it could only mean Momo, but the lemur made no move to go outside its room, it was only the fourth time she felt a vibration-made by Twinkle Toes for that matter-that she felt annoyed enough to stand up and head out the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She reached Twinkle Toes just outside the hotel entrance. He was looking around for something, no doubt Katara and 'hot head'.

"What are you doing?" She hissed though she knew the answer.

"I'm looking for Zuko," he replied.

"They'll come back here soon enough. Why so worried? It's not like they're going to disappear or anything."

"They?" He asked. He didn't seem to know that Katara has also run of to somewhere.

"Katara ran off, too. I bet 'hot head' just went of to find out what she's doing or something like that."

That was a big mistake. Now Aang wanted to follow them, undoubtedly worried that the two teens will sneak off to somewhere for a little privacy for "something". Toph could easily decipher that by the way the vibrations indicated his knees buckling.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. She didn't know why she was going to say what she was about to say next. "Fine. We'll follow them for a while, see what they're up to, _then _can we go back to sleep, 'Twinkle Toes'?"

'Twinkle Toes' seemed happier with this. "Okay, Toph. A quick peek, then we go back."

He took hold of her hand and ran off with her to the direction he saw Zuko went to.

Toph couldn't help but blush at the way he held her hand. She didn't know why she did so.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sokka was happy. There in front of him was a big table full of food with a chair on each side. And in each of those chairs, lay Yue and Suki. He was in heaven, that's for sure. He went over to the table; as he did so the two girls made a dash for him and the next thing he knew, Suki was on his back and Yue was hugging him tightly. "What's the occasion today? Is it Sokka day?" he joked.

Yue opened her mouth to speak but what came out was nothing more than a light crooning that sounded a lot like Momo. "Huh?" Sokka asked, puzzled. She was opening her mouth in a normal way, and she didn't seem bothered by the fact that she wasn't speaking anything sensible.

He turned to Suki, hoping that maybe she could translate. She opened her mouth but again what came out was a soft crooning. "What is going on with you two?" Then for some reason, Suki licked him.

His dream was turning into one heck of a nightmare.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Momo cocked its head.

A while ago, its master-friend had left, but Momo was too sleepy to notice. When he woke up, the boy was nowhere to be found. He found the other boy still asleep in his bed so he thought he would wake him up. He nudged and tried to "talk" to him but all he kept doing was snoring and saying stuff. It turned to Appa for help. It had also woken up its giant friend when it learned that its master-friend was gone.

Appa let out a tongue and licked the other boy. He murmured for a bit then went on with his snoring.

Momo tried again, this time he opened his eyes the slightest bit and spoke.

"Suki?"

- - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -

Sokka woke up; at first he thought that he was looking into the blue eyes of Suki.

"Suki?" He asked.

But then his vision cleared and instead of the girl he was closely involved with, he saw a furry head and yellow-green, beady eyes.

"Oh, it's you," he said lazily to Momo, with a slight hint of disappointment at realizing that it was only a dream.

He stood up and rubbed his head. He surveyed the room only to realize that only him, Iroh-who was snoring peacefully for that matter-Momo and Appa were the only ones in the room.

"Where are they?" He asked the lemur even though he knew that he wouldn't get an answer.

Not surprisingly, Momo cocked its head at him.

He crawled over to the former general and lightly nudged him. Nothing but a snore came out. Sokka nudged him again, but again snoring. "Hey, Iroh," he whispered while nudging him a bit harder this time. The old man murmured something about tea then went on snoring. Sokka ran his hand down his face.

"Iroh!" He shouted.

"Eh?" Finally, a breakthrough; the old man woke up.

"Where are the others?" He asked.

Evidently, Iroh didn't seem to know what he was talking about until he saw the room and realized that his nephew and Aang were gone. He blinked twice before turning to Sokka with a questioning look.

Sokka just shrugged. "I don't know where they went, we'd better go look for them."

Iroh agreed. "I agree. I suggest we take the Avatar's bison."

At times like this, they wouldn't have made such a big thing about this. But there was something about the city that made them feel that the others were in danger.

As they led Appa out the balcony (seeing as of course the behemoth couldn't fit through the door.) Momo scampered over to them and jumped up on the saddle but Sokka just shook his head and let Momo down.

"No, Momo. You stay here in case they come back."

There was no way of knowing whether the lemur was upset or not by being left behind, since all it did anyway was cocking its head.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie woke up in the middle of the night. That was a surprise since the only thing that could make her wake up in the middle of the night was either a midnight snack or a single red chili pepper put in her mouth, and there was no sign of the vegetable on her tongue or the craving for something to eat.

But then, there were times when she would wake up because she would sense an eerie presence surrounding her. And, perhaps this was one of those times.

She was the only one in the room when she woke up. Much like Momo, she cocked her head, but she didn't waste any time crooning or scampering or whatever else lemurs do.

She went over to the balcony to look over the city, as if expecting to see Toph and Katara. Then she noticed the other balcony window was open. Curious to see if the guys have disappeared, also, she jumped over to the other side. (She was not the type to concern herself with doors.)

The moment she poked her head into the room where, supposedly the guys were, some sort of rat pounced right into her arms.

She had almost forgotten that Momo was there in that room so it took her a while to realize that it was not a rat or a wolf-rat that jumped into her arms but a white lemur with a brown face with green questioning eyes.

"Momo, right? I don't suppose you know where the others went," she asked though she didn't expect an answer.

It cocked its head.

"Yeah, I thought so." She sighed at the thought of having to venture the whole city to look for the rest of her companions. Surely they would get into some sort of trouble. She was too lazy to sense their location right now, so she put Momo on the ground and jumped off the balcony only to have the lemur fly right next to her again.

For the second time she sighed. "So I'm with you again, huh?"

Momo cocked its head again. When she didn't speak, it jumped right on her shoulder.

She sighed and went on walking. "There'd better be food around this place or I am gonna' eat you," she said sternly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Katara walked on, she had only noticed now that each time she would breath, her breaths would turn into icy mists giving a slight shiver down her spine. She was thankful that she had the sense to bring her water pouch along even though there didn't seem to be any danger.

The moaning had already stopped, but even so, there was still a woman out there who somehow needed help. She didn't know how long she had been walking now. Hours maybe, it could've been just five minutes for all she cared.

Her "motherly" instincts told her to find this woman and offer some help but her mind told her to go back while she still can.

As she walked, she noticed how tall the buildings of this city were. They were at least half the size of the Ba Sing Se palace. She was surprised that a city like this would be abandoned or even be unheard of. But she would have preferred it if they were more subtle. The way the buildings loomed over her creeped her out. At day time, she wouldn't have minded, but at this time it was like they were just waiting to swallow her up.

She heard a scuttle behind her. She whipped around, but only to find an empty street. Usually, she wouldn't have been spooked by this, it may have been just a wolf-rat or a poodle-monkey that has gotten loose from its owner, but this wasn't a usual time. The city was completely deserted save for the group and the woman.

She checked the road behind her one more time before going with the explanation that it was just her imagination.

She walked on, oblivious to the shadow following her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko gave out a sigh in relief. That was a close one; he tripped over a large pebble and skidded on the road. The waterbender heard and turned around. He had ducked behind a deserted vegetable cart in time to not be seen.

He had no idea why he was sneaking around. If the waterbender discovered him so what? It wasn't like she could do him any harm. He pondered over this for a moment before deciding that he would just follow her straight out. He stood up and walked on trying to be casual, following the waterbender.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 hour later…

Katara gave up. She had been walking for at least an hour and she still couldn't find any sign of life, let alone a moaning woman. Maybe it was just her imagination. The moaning had stopped anyway.

She sighed and turned around only to bump into right into something. She stepped back in surprise and looked up at a tall silhouette. She couldn't see its face since its back was facing the moonlight.

She was staring at it for a while when it talked. "What are you doing out here at night?"

She recognized the voice immediately. "Zuko? What are _you _doing here following _me_?

"I woke up because you were making too much noise just _walking._ Now aren't you going to answer my question?"

Katara scowled at him. "Well, I was going to go back anyway. And what business is it to you if I want to walk around for a bit of fresh air."

"You sure did go a long way just for some air."

"Well why would _you_ care?" And with that, Katara made her way past him towards the hotel.

After several moments, she could feel him following right at her heel. She did her best to ignore him as much as she could.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Where _are _they? We've been walking for over an hour and we still haven't found them," Toph complained while kicking the dirt in front of her.

Aang sighed. She was right. They haven't found a single trace of neither Katara nor Zuko; not even a measly footprint. But he didn't get why or how. He was positive of the direction he saw Zuko go to. After that, they didn't see any sign of the firebender at all but even so, the path they took went in only one direction. They came across a stray path once or twice but it would only lead into a dead end. Katara and Zuko couldn't have gotten themselves hidden with barely ten minutes between them and Aang and Toph.

"I don't know," he said, a bit wearily. "Maybe we should go back and tell the others. Then we'd be able to use Appa and make our search easier."

"Stop making such a big deal about this, Aang," Toph said. "Look it's just a cit-"

"I know it's just a city!" Aang barked without letting her finish. "But there's something weird about this place. Everything's so clean and well cared for even without anyone actually living here! I have a feeling that Katara and Zuko are in big trouble, Toph, and we have to find them soon."

Toph paused thinking about something. Her silence was awkward. It was a relief to Aang when she finally said, "Okay, 'Twinkle Toes', we'll go search for them. I have to agree with you, anyway. I can't even sense any other vibrations here aside from you."

Aang seemed even more worried by this. "Well then, we'd better go get Appa."

He walked on past Toph, who just sighed heavily then went on to follow him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"I don't see any sign of them," Sokka said as he looked over the side of Appa's head.

From behind him in the saddle, Iroh was also looking over the side, searching for any trace of Zuko, Aang, Katara, Toph or Reggie. (Sokka is oblivious to the fact that also the girls are missing but the old general has suspected their disappearance more than twice).

"I don't see any sign of them either," he called out to Sokka.

The boy sighed with worry emphasized all over it. They had been searching the others for over an hour, maybe even more than that and yet they found nothing. Not only that, Aang had left behind his glider-staff. If there were any danger, he wouldn't be able to use the advantage of flying. They had taken everything that belonged to the others and was left behind in the room so they would be able to give it to them when they would again meet. A while ago, Sokka wouldn't worry so much about Aang, seeing as of course, he's the Avatar, but there was something strange about this whole city. As if, death, itself was looming over the roofs of the tall houses.

Appa moaned, worried as well for its master.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reggie walked on, Momo on her head. She was slightly bored, half-annoyed and the rest of her, suspicious. She knew she had seen the buildings around her before even though she never turned back or had walked in circles. She was positive she was only going in one straight path. Nearby, she saw an old vegetable cart. That was probably the only thing different.

Aside from her cautiousness, she was getting weary. It had already been an hour and yet she found no trace of the others so she had no choice but to assume they got into some sort of trouble and kept walking on.

"What I wouldn't give for my skateboard," she mumbled.

Momo cocked its head.

Just then a vibration came from her cargo pants pocket. She jumped at the beep it had also made.

She fumbled along her pockets, getting lost in her cell phone, palm pilots, mini laptop and other such gadgets (Except for her long-lost ipod which was lost away at sea as the author would have mentioned) until she found the cause of the beeping and vibrations. Her PDA screen gave out a faint blue light meaning someone was giving her either a voice message or a semi-personal video. (A/N: Yes, all her gadgets are a few years advanced.)

She took it out and pressed the "green phone button". The screen buzzed to life revealing Ritz (A/N: Or Rizzela. I kinda based her on "someone" and Foaly from Artemis Fowl. Yes I'm a big fan of the book. Is it obvious I'm a bookworm?)

"Yoh," the girl with glasses greeted. She looked the same except for her ball point pen tucked in her left ear.

"What?" Reggie asked. "Did you get something on-"

"Nope, nadda, zilch, zero, none whatsoever. If you don't get my point I _could_ try speaking in Swahili-"here she smirked-"Oh I forgot," she said mockingly. "You don't _speak_ Swahili. I totally became oblivious to the fact you're only accustomed to four languages and me, almost every language you can think of. I even got-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a world renowned genius known for her great and intellectual mind, blah, blah, blah. So did you get anything on the city?"

Ritz came to her normal voice. "No. But I did find something interesting."

Reggie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're not responsible for taking care of Aang."

"Say what?"

"You're responsible for the Avatar but of a different time. Ten to twenty years from now at least."

"So my employer sent me to a different time?"

"No."

"I'm getting confused."

Ritz sighed. "I can never see through the eyes of the incompetent," she said to herself then talked back to Reggie. "There's a possibility that the Avatar I was talking about might not be born."

"But the Avatar-"

"I know the Avatar will always have a reincarnation, unless the previous Avatar is killed in the Avatar state. But the next Avatar might be born to a different family. One whose principle is to never practice bending whether you have the gift or not, which means the Avatar won't be given a chance to practice, not only that, that family has a habit of not saying whether a member has bending or not, which makes the discovery harder, something to do with getting involved in the war or so the like, so it turns out you have to make sure that the next Avatar will be born to the alternative family."

"And how exactly do I do that?"

"Simple. Get Katara and Zuko together."

"Say what?"

"The next Avatar will be born to them. Aang is going to die soon. I don't want to be a spoiler so I won't tell you how. Anyway, you have to make sure that Katara and Zuko will fall for each other right now. I happen to know this is the time where their hormones start kicking in. They have to get their feelings out before Zuko and Iroh's three weeks with the gang is up. If that doesn't happen, they won't get a chance to be close enough to "do stuff" so in other words,…world goes kablooey."

Reggie groaned. She hated it so much when her latest job is to get together two people and make them fall in love. She still hasn't forgotten the last time she did that. Apparently, none of them was a girl. She thought about protesting this fact but then decided it would turn the conversation longer.

"Well to do that," she said. "I kinda have to find them first. The group got separated. I don't know whether we got divided into smaller groups or if I'm the only one alone. Well except for the lemur."

"Right…."

"So do you think you can find them?"

"What for? You can just locate them when you want to. I'm not the one with the creepy powers."

"Everything's all fuzzy. I can't locate anyone of them. All that appear in my head are just distortions."

Ritz nodded at this. "I'll go check into that. See ya'"

"Yeah sure. Bye."

The screen buzzed close.

Reggie walked on. She was walking on when something came to her mind: Aang would never leave Momo behind. Meaning she wasn't the only one to be alone. They were separated and divided into small groups, which would mean it would be harder to trace them all, but since she can't do that….

….they were all lost and aside from that….

…separated.


	10. Fire, Water, and Slugs

**Salutations peoples!!! It's me again!!! So far I have realized that my story is nothing more than senseless junk (I would've said crap but I had sworn of cursing) and Reggie is nothing more than a Mary Sue, but nevertheless I shall continue with my story for two reasons: 1.) I am loyal to my character Reggie/Reg/Regina Erin Blade (In other stories, she's either Aeris or Erin. Yes I know Aeris is kinda from FFVII) and I like her very much, considering that she has been in my imagination for almost four years now. 2.) Because I know how it feels to have the author not finish a story you're reading and you really want to know what happens next so I'm finishing this is for the sake of all my readers, especially a certain anonymous reviewer who claims he or most probably she thinks my story is crap and yet keeps on reading.**

**Oh yeah, and to a certain Best Friend/Informant/Employer/Boss/Advisor/Enemy…**

**There!!! Are you happy now, Ritz?!? I finally added a new chapter!!!**

**And to some Anonymous writer who is not ara6012…Motzie? Is that you? **

**Disclaimer: There was an activity in English were we had to write three wishes…owning Avatar is one of them.**

**- - - - - - - - - -- - - - **

Fire, Water and Slugs

Where were they? Katara subconsciously thought to herself. They had been walking for what seemed like an eternity and yet they still hadn't found the hotel. She had tried shouting the names of her other companions and yet nothing. Her voice did nothing but echo away into the night, which was slowly turning into twilight. (She could discern the time by the way the stars were slowly disappearing).

All the while she did this, Zuko-walking behind her-kept quiet, eyeing her as if she were no more than a child making a fool of herself. Even now, Katara could feel his burning gaze upon her.

All the while, she just ignored him and kept on walking down the dirt path between the numerous buildings looming over them. But somehow, she can't help but feel uncomfortable around him. She knew this because of the way she gripped the cork of her water pouch and the way she felt cautious, alert and ready to strike any time, letting go of the pouch only to cup her hands around her mouth and shout out the names of her friends, save for Zuko's.

On and on they trudged. The silence unrelenting, merciless. Oblivious to the tenseness and torment this was giving the Water Tribe girl. The only hint of its sympathy was the sound of their footsteps echoing away into the void of lifeless paths and buildings, into the never-ending but familiar Earth Kingdom green.

Katara narrowed her eyes as she felt the burning glare of the prince behind her. She would've felt better if they were talking but she was not a girl to concern herself with a conversation for the sake of a conversation. She saw no point in starting senseless chatter. Not that there was anything to talk about. There was nothing in common between the two of them, save for the fact that they both lost their mothers-but she was in no mood to talk about the painful past. Her element was water, his was fire; she was patient and understanding, he was stubborn and unsympathetic; she was a commoner, he was a prince. She had a feeling that even their very essences were complete opposites.

She walked on for several moments when she could take it no more. She whipped around with a glare that equaled Zuko's in the way they burned.

"Why are you here?" She snapped at him. It wasn't quite the thing she wanted to say to him, but she showed no sign of showing that. She hunched up her shoulders and clenched her hands into fists. She didn't know why she was being mad, she just was.

She could savor the look of surprise, shock and non-stop blinking on his face for days, but that stopped and his golden eyes intensified even more than before. "Well, why did you have to yell at me?"

Katara had to admit, she didn't know why and she didn't have an answer for that, so instead she didn't answer him…again.

"Why did you have to follow me and annoy me?! Why can't you leave me alone?!"

"Well, I was wondering what you were up to when you woke me up in the middle of the night!"

"Why couldn't you mind your own business then?!"

"Why are you even mad at me?!"

"Because of everything!!!"

That caught both of them by surprise, but unlike Zuko-whose glare faded into surprise-Katara just glared at him with all the burning hatred she had, trying to show him through her eyes the emotions she felt for him: utter loathing and hatred. She continued…

"For taking away my mother! For making my father leave us!-"

"But-"

"I know it wasn't your fault, and I know you also lost your mom! But not only that!!! Countless times you've hunted us down and caused us so many problems!!! You trying to get rid of the world's last hope of peace and prosperity! Everything!"

"Look I've changed-"

"Well, that's what I thought when we were in Ba Sing Se! I trusted you enough in those darn caves, trusted you enough to offer to heal that scar of yours! But no, you just went ahead and tried to kill us all again! Do you know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you _trusted_? By someone you thought would help you for the good of the world! To just have a bigger glimpse of hope, that finally Aang will have a master to teach him firebending…and then suddenly, you have it just taken away and then…shattered into pieces!"

"Well, I'm teaching the Avatar fire-"

"And then not only does your hope go away! It turns into fear not only for the Avatar but for your friend who was almost dying because I was stupid enough to think that you'd help us after only a few hours in a cave! I'm glad I healed Aang with the water from the Spirit Oasis instead of wasting it on your _demented scar_!!!"

Those last two words seemed to have struck Zuko even more than her other words. His widened eyes of surprise turned into yet another stare that scared Katara more than it had scared her back at the river bank. Her burning gaze was still intact but she felt herself slide her foot backwards in an attempt to back away from the prince, whose complexion was already redder than beetroot. Not from embarrassment but from immense anger at her.

"What did you say?" He asked in a soft yet treacherous tone.

"Why? Do you have a problem with your ugly and monstrous scar?!" She snapped at him. Insulting other people was something Sokka usually did, but she couldn't help it. She just wanted him to go away.

"Shut up!" He roared as he pushed her on the shoulders.

She fell hard on the ground. She never knew she had what it takes to make someone that angry just by two words, but that was something she hardly cared for now.

Knowing full well she needed her water for a something more important than a fight between two teens, she got up and ran for him readying her hands into a fist. She aimed for his face but he merely grabbed her wrist with no signs of effort taking place.

He leered at her with mock yet with hated intensity. "Is that all you can do, _peasant_?"

He pushed her at the wrist and yet again, she fell on the ground, but nearer to him. That was Zuko's mistake: she was too near him.

She found her chance in his spread open legs. She would love this moment all throughout her life; she knew that, but still she didn't smirk nor leer (A/N: I know they're the same thing), she just did what her head told her to do: She raised up her leg with as much force she could muster up and hit it right then and there.

Zuko grabbed his groin and howled in pain. Katara didn't waste that opportunity to smirk-even though she could feel herself gloating inside-she just stood up and hit him squarely on the jaw.

Another howl of pain emitted from his mouth, this time with one hand in between his thighs and one holding his chin. It was all too ridiculous, funny and triumphant at the same time, Katara had to plant her hands on her hips and grin.

Zuko looked up to her. He stopped screaming now, but now he was just growling with both pain and anger at her. But strangely enough, he didn't do anything. It was as if she won this battle and there was nothing he could do to stop her. He just glared at her, whilst she just grinned at him.

Katara walked away, with-what felt to her-an air of triumph and success. She just wished the others were here to see it. All her anger at him now was gone. It was a short fight and was lacking in momentum, but still, she just couldn't help but feel it was the best battle she had her whole, entire life. Not only, that, the sun was starting to rise, as if to acknowledge her triumph. (A/N: Yes, I know the whole Katara winning thing is starting to turn into over-kill but she really felt the moment there.)

But it was long lived, for she felt the air behind her heat up. She turned around only to be greeted by a small fire ball that hit her chest. When the impact of it made her fall to the ground, it immediately extinguished, preventing a fire to start on her robes. The only thing the fire left was a small part of the blue cloth singed.

She stared at him, this time it was he holding the triumphant grin.

She opened the cork from her water pouch. She knew full well that she needed that water for more important and life threatening situations, but she didn't care. He used firebending on her, now it was her turn to use firebending on him.

She decided to use her favorite move on him first: the water whip. It hit him right in the forehead. A mark appeared on where she had hit him, but even so she continued hitting him with numerous whips; not giving him any time to attack. As she stepped forward with every hit, he staggered backward. She was also careful that not a single drop of water would fall on the ground fearing the conservation of her water (She knew that she could easily pull the water out of the ground but she also knew that she would only have time for that later seeing as Zuko might attack when she would pull it out in mid-fight but then it might have been dissolved too much by the ground already).

She kept on hitting him, and when she was confident enough, she changed to a different tactic.

That was her mistake.

Using a different move meant that she had to reposition her arms meaning that Zuko would get his attacking chance. She didn't think that through.

As she pulled back her arms to use another favorite waterbending move, using a ball of water, he attacked the moment he was free of being hit.

He threw five daggers of fire at her. Two went right through her water, which vaporized immediately after that, while two hit her on the chest while one hit her shoulder. She skidded backward but found her footing on time.

She was thankful she only used a bit of water that time, or else she would have run out of it completely. She took a third of what remained and used it as a dagger to hit Zuko on his left thigh. It wasn't enough to send him falling but it was more than enough to distract him a little while for Katara to make a dash towards him until she ended up only a foot away from him. She used this chance to jab his stomach with her knee.

He yelped a little and clutched his stomach. But only for a while, though.

Katara was expecting a moment or two for Zuko to completely recover from his hit in the stomach, in order to use his firebending. But she was wrong, what he did was again push her. Hard. Harder than he had pushed her before.

She fell backward and for a while everything was a blur of green, white and brown colors as she came tumbling away, and then finally to a stop.

When she looked up, she realized that she was already at least five meters away from him.

_Wow. He must be really annoyed to have pushed me that hard. _

But she didn't have time to think about that now. She saw Zuko running towards her with two miniature balls of fire in each palm. She tried to stand up as fast as she can but she wasn't fast enough. Before she was completely up she was hit twice on the chest which seemed to be Zuko's favorite place to hit and damage.

She fell back again and looked up to Zuko's cold eyes. For some reason, she thought that it was pretty ironic that the color of his eyes could be so warm, seeing as it was golden, and yet his gaze was so cold and sent anyone's spine shivering.

Then her gaze flickered from his eyes to his smirk.

"Not so tough now, are you peasant?" He asked smugly.

She didn't reply but simply swung her legs to the side, deliberately tripping Zuko. He fell face-flat on the ground beside her.

Katara stood up and backed away from him, anticipating an attack. It was a good thing she did, though, because the moment Zuko stood up he sent a raging inferno circling him, hoping he would engulf Katara as well. When he noticed that Katara had backed off, he let it subside.

They stood there for a while, staring at each other with all the hate they could muster up.

_This is stupid, he's our ally now,_ Katara thought.

But again, she was given no time to think that when Zuko ran for her with swords made out of fire in each of his hands.

Katara decided to charge at him as well with a whip half her height in one hand.

They were about to attack with all the strength they could summon. When suddenly…

_CRASH! _

Two of the buildings beside them broke apart as something crashed into their roofs breaking the whole building, leaving a huge gaping hole in the middle with the remains of the Earth Kingdom home around it, and protruding from that hole, was what looked like a giant, yellow slug with green slime oozing from its body. It had no eyes but what looked like a huge mouth with rows of sharp carnivorous teeth. (A/N: What we're talking about is not an actual slug, hence the teeth.)

Katara and Zuko stopped midway in their attacks. Zuko's fire had gone but Katara's water was still hovering in midair. They gazed up at the slug creature that was at least three stories high. At least what was out of the hole was three stories high.

The two teens had a feeling that it was bigger and longer than it seemed in full-view.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Finally! I'm done with this chapter! Sorry for the long wait you guys…**


	11. In the Midst of the Unknown

In the Midst of the Unknown

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

Reggie blinked her eyes open. "Huh?" She said wearily.

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

Due to her lack of sleep last night, she decided to have a short nap leaning on the wall of an old building. Beside her, Momo was curled up. He/she too had fallen asleep.

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

She was oblivious to the beeping noise of her PDA. Her mind still wandered to her dream a while ago. Visions she had not seen in a long time.

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

_She ran along the street as the houses beside her burned and crumbled. _

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

_She slammed the door open. As she lay there panting, she saw the bodies of her stepmother and father; bloodied and stabbed; both lying on the floor. _

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

_In a blizzard, five years later, she ran to the body of a ginger-haired boy whose shirt was bloody from being stabbed through the heart. "Kiba!" She screamed. Too late; the boy was dead. _

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

_She was running along the edge of a snowy mountain. _

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

_The man raised his hand. Her blood splattered on the rocky wall. Her body fell on the floor. Her eyes stayed open, wide and looked like in fear. _

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

Reggie let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. "Why did I remember that again?" She murmured to herself.

_Beep, beep! Beep, beep! _

"Huh?"

She seemed to have noticed her PDA only now. She looked at her pocket where the device was vibrating. She got her PDA and opened the screen.

Her best friend's face buzzed to life. "Finally!"

Reggie narrowed her eyes; already she had half-forgotten her dream. "Well, did you get anything?"

"Yup."

She perked up at this. "Well? Tell me what you've got!"

"I found twenty five results all-in-all."

Reggie lost her confidence at this. "Aw, come on! I'm only lost in ONE strange city! Not twenty-five, Ritz. One." To emphasize her point, she showed her hand curled up at the screen except for her index finger, which was the universal sign for…one.

"Look, stuff like this happen all the time, Reg. Maybe if you give me more leads to start on, then _maybe _I can help you a little more."

"Oh, yeah? How?"

Ritz leaned back on her chair as she thought about this. This took several, very long moments before she finally got her ballpoint pen from her ear and pointed it at Reg. "Maybe if you scanned some dirt over to me, I could get something."

Reggie just rolled her eyes. "Fine," she grumbled.

She closed the PDA screen and got out her mini-laptop. She opened it to be greeted by a desktop of her and some of her friends at a party. She pressed a button near the screen and a glass platform came out of the side of the laptop. Without looking away, she reached out her hand from her side and got a bit of dirt from the path and put it on the platform.

She pressed another button and a strip of light ran along the platform like it would a photocopy machine. When it stopped a pop-up window appeared on the screen saying that any information regarding the soil was already sent to Ritz.

When she had kept her laptop already, she nudged Momo awake and then decided to look again for her lost companions.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Aang, I'm tired," Toph complained to the Avatar in front of her.

Somehow, walking seemed like a lost cause already. The building they were sleeping in had disappeared along with everyone else. At some point, Toph felt the earth shake the slightest bit but now she was starting to think it was only her imagination. It wasn't hard to believe because she could very well have a hallucination because of her hunger, thirst and weariness from walking.

"I know Toph," Aang said; also weary. "But we can't give up. We have to find them."

The earthbender didn't reply. What was the point? She'd only waste her energy.

"And besides," Aang said after several minutes, in his voice he sounded thoughtful. "I'd hate to think what Zuko did to Katara."

Toph didn't reply again. She saw no point in this as well. But she couldn't help but feel frustrated at Aang. Here they were lost in the middle of a lifeless city and all he could think of was no one else but Miss Sweetness. He couldn't think about Toph's needs or the fact that everyone else was lost and probably looking for them.

She paused in front of an alleyway and decided to see what would happen.

Just as she thought; Aang didn't even stop to look back and see if anything was wrong. She stomped her foot in frustration.

Then, she heard it: What sounded like a bell. The soft, clear note of a bell.

She looked to the alleyway where she was sure the place where the note came from. Then it sounded again. "Huh?" Toph murmured to herself.

She looked up over the path. Aang was there, walking away. Deciding that it he wouldn't notice her gone anyway, she went inside the alleyway, not stopping to think that they could get separated as well.

As she came deeper into the alley, the note became clearer and louder, as it drew her nearer and nearer to it. Maybe there was someone else there; maybe it was Katara and the others who had found someway to signal them where they were.

The note blanked out her mind, making her ignore the fact that if it were the others, she would have felt vibrations under her feet, but there were none.

She emerged from the alleyway into what looked like a small village square. The note had stopped the moment she came out.

In the middle of the square was an old lady, wrapped in old clothes and a shawl, seated on a wooden wheelchair. Her eyes were closed but her mouth curved up to a smile that sent Toph's spine a shiver. Somehow, Toph could see the woman, but only in her mind. She could see the exact details.

"Wh-who are you?" Toph managed to say.

"Do you want her dead?" The old lady suddenly said.

"What?"

"Do you want her dead?" She repeated.

"What do you mean?"

"I can send her down, down, down into the pits of a fiery world where endless torment will greet her."

"Look, lady! What are you talking about? Who do I want dead, and why are you even here? Did you get trapped, here too?"

The old woman opened her eyes, slowly, to reveal that she had neither pupils nor irises. The whole of her eye was just plain white. The sight made Toph gasp.

"Do you want her dead?"

Toph couldn't take it anymore. She turned around and ran; ran as far away from the old woman as possible. Then she skidded to a stop. The image of the old woman was in her mind again. This time she felt the woman's presence in front of her.

"Do you want her dead?"

"What on earth are you talking about?! Why would I want anyone dead, you freak!"

Then she made a swift motion of her arms attempting to get the woman out of the way with her earthbending, but nothing happened. Suddenly, she couldn't feel the presence of the earth anymore. She couldn't even feel the presence of her surroundings anymore. She couldn't feel the warmth of the morning sun down at her, not the shadow of the looming buildings, nothing.

There was nothing she could feel around her but darkness.

Her feet started to feel wet and a putrid odor entered her nose. It was the smell of…

"Blood!" She exclaimed.

"Do you want her dead?" The old woman repeated.

"Who are you?" Toph asked, half-screaming.

"I can get rid of her. I can send her down, down, down."

"Who and what are talking about lady!"

"You love him but you hate her. So if she is gone, you will be happy."

Then Toph realized who she was talking about. The old woman was talking about Katara. She thought that Katara was getting in the way of her and Aang.

"I don't want her dead!" She yelled.

Then something strange started to happen. Blood oozed out of her body. Down the sleeves of her shirt, out of her ears, from the corners of her eyes, from her nostrils and from her mouth.

She started to tremble now. What was happening? Was she going to die? Everything was just happening so quickly and horribly her mind just blanked out; eradicating any ideas she had to escape…not that she had any idea.

She was somewhere in the middle of a sea of ankle-deep blood with nothing but darkness around her and the old woman in front. The crone just kept on smiling as if blood coming out of a little girl was the most child-like and innocent thing in the world.

She stared at the old woman in anger. "What are you doing to me?!"

The old woman just kept on smiling.

"Stop it!!!" Toph screamed as a gush of blood came out of her mouth.

She grasped tufts of her hair. Her knees buckled for a moment and then all together she fell kneeling down on the ground. she closed her eyes, willing this nightmare to go away. (Not that closing her eyes made any difference)

"Do you want her dead?" the old woman asked again calmly.

"No!!!"

Then as if the word 'no' was a magic word of some sort, the blood, the darkness and the old woman disappeared to be replaced by the soothing sensation of the sun and the shadows again. She opened here eyes and found that they weren't wet from blood. The same was with her whole body and her face. It was as if nothing "bloody" had happened to her.

For a minute, she thought that everything that happened was just the cause of her imagination. After all, who wouldn't go nuts in a creepy city such as this one? But then that horrid voice came back again; drifting in the wind.

_Do you want her dead…?_

Toph gasped. What had happened was real.

In an attempt to forget everything, she ran after Aang. Thankfully, he didn't get too far off a while ago before the whole "old woman" incident and they weren't separated. Aang beckoned for her to follow. There was look of concern on his face for Toph's well-being. The young earthbender couldn't help but quirk up her lips a bit. Aang _did_ care, but even so, his concern for Katara surfaced even more than his concern for her.

But even so, she followed him to forget what had happened.

- - - - - - - - - - -

_When does the moon cast its light?_

_When does the water blend with the night?_

_When does the snow get tainted with water?_

_Oh, when? Oh when? Tell me mother?_

_When does the child play in the snow?_

_When does the frost fall on her pale nose?_

_When does the snowflake come down on the ground?_

_When? Oh, when? Tell me mother._

Sokka stared dreamily at the clouds as he remembered an old nursery rhyme he and Katara used to sing when they were playing beside the sea. They would just sit, hold hands and sing the song while looking up at the night sky.

It comforted Sokka to remember it. Gran-gran used to sing it to them when their mother was gone in a village meeting in place of their father. How long ago that seemed. The song now nothing more than a drifting memory that only came across his mind by chance.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" A gentle voice asked breaking Sokka's thoughts.

The Water Tribe warrior turned his gaze from the blue sky to the equally serene face of Iroh, who was holding a cup of tea in his hands.

Sokka shook his head and waved his hands as a way of gesturing he didn't want any. Who wouldn't want tea after you've drank it six times already (aside from Iroh)?

"No thanks. I'm good."

The old man just smiled at him. "Something is troubling you, Sokka." He said. "What is it?"

Sokka just stared at him; pondering over that. There was nothing worrying him, aside of course for the fact that they were separated from the rest of the gang and they couldn't find them anywhere in this seemingly endless city, but he had a feeling that the former general already knew that; otherwise he wouldn't have asked.

But now that Iroh asked, a strange weight fell in his heart. As if something _had _been troubling him, but he couldn't think of any troubles going about in his mind. All he was thinking of a while ago was their childhood song; that hardly felt troubling.

He couldn't think of an answer so he decided to lie.

"I was thinking about the safety of my lil' sister."

"Do not lie to me, Sokka."

Oh, well. So much for that.

Iroh's smile faded a bit but was there still. He gently shoved the cup of tea in Sokka's hand.

"A problem that we cannot decipher is often the most troubling of all," he said in a gentle tone. A tone Sokka already knew meant that he was giving a proverb yet was lecturing him at the same time.

"I can't decipher my problem because there's nothing to decipher at all," Sokka protested. "I'm just worried about Katara, okay."

He took a sip of his tea to show that he was alright aside from the reason stated out earlier.

But he still pondered. What was that huge weight burdening him? It was not the weight of having to take care of his sister or his companions, nor was it the weight of trying to escape the city. So what was it?

"You carry the weight of sad memories," Iroh said as if reading his mind.

"Huh?" That was the only thing Sokka could say.

What was so sad about a childhood nursery rhyme? But then there was no deceiving even himself. It was sad because the memory was so happy. It made him miss the happy years they spent together. It made him miss just singing and looking up at the sky without knowing that what he was doing was bringing such pain right now. Not knowing any danger that was to come at all.

Everything has changed.

His mother is gone; his father departed; his tribe left behind; his naivety lost. All those treasures replaced by anxiety, worry, suffering and fear and of course the pain at having to lose Yue. The one he thought could be his when everything was over. Suki was still there but Yue still had a place with him.

As if to sympathize with him, Appa moaned. Sokka amused himself by thinking that that moan had the tone of sadness with it.

"I just wish our peaceful childhood days were still here," Sokka said as he looked down at the tea in his cup.

"If you still had them," Iroh stated, "you would not be the man you are now. Strong, brave and wise. You would have not made friends with the Avatar or experience actual love. Yes, we have memories that anguish us, but we make up for it with memories that make us joyful."

_Wow, you wouldn't think he'd be _this_ wise considering the tea freak that he is, _Sokka thought but kept quiet.

Iroh took that as a response and kept quiet himself.

Sokka pondered as Iroh drank his tea.

- - - - - - - - - -

**Okay, I'm done with this chapter! Finally!!! Sorry it took so long, I was still debating with myself whether I should add more but I thought you peoples out there couldn't wait anymore. So here it is. Oh yeah, I forgot to put the disclaimer. Hehehe**

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me.**

**There we go. And just a note.**

**People! Reviews are for stating out your opinion and criticisms. Not for communicating with the author! And if you want to communicate with me about an irrelevant topic, just send me a message through my profile, which by the way, says I don't like revealing stuff about me!!! So to some certain people (You know, Banapee, cheesemotzerellaparmesan (last three anonymous names are the same person, and ritz d' informant)** **stop calling me Xemnas as this is a way of revealing myself. And not only that, you people are kind of telling the readers who my friends are. **

**Again, reviews are not for communicating with the author or stating out anything irrelevant to the story or showing of that you actually know me. Wanting to kill ara6012 is irrelevant, just so you know. **

**Oh and to whoever…stop antagonizing ara6012! She is just stating out her opinion which helps me improve. So no antagonizing…. **


	12. Sokka's Encounter

**I'm finally starting with a new chapter!!! I don't have anything to write in my A/N today so I'm just going to create a dialogue of my everyday life….**

**ME: Hello everybody!!!**

**Motzie: Halloo…**

**ME: What was that for!?! You're ruining the moment here!!! **

**Motzie: You said 'Hello' I'm saying 'Halloo'. **

**ME: Oh really now…? How about 'Balloo' (Bye)?**

**Ritz: Orange… **

**Motzie and ME: Wha? **

**Ritz: Balloo is a weird way of saying 'Blue' so I'm saying a different color sooo…orange**

**Noreen: Banana…hehe**

**Disclaimer: Hey what am I supposed to say? Hey!!! I can talk!!! It's a miracle! I'm FREE!!! ATLA does not belong to Grey Blade…FREEDOM!!! **

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

In the Midst of the Unknown 2

Sokka and Iroh landed to let Appa rest. They chose what seemed to be the city plaza since it looked like it had the biggest space for Appa. The two males were also tired from lack of sleep last night so they decided to take a little nap as well. There was no reason to take watch so they just slept at the same time.

Sokka lay on Appa's tail with his hands resting on his stomach. He gazed up at the sky wondering if the others were safe. Looking up at the sky brought back memories of him and his whole family looking at the water.

"_This city sure is bringing a lot of memories,"_ he thought.

Then that's when he heard it. A soft singing from somewhere near but hidden. He stood up and strained his ear to hear who it was. Maybe it was Katara. He knew she liked to hum and sing when she was alone doing things but then it could also have been Toph or Reggie but he highly doubted that.

He moved to wake up Iroh but then hesitated and decided against it. The old man was tired and would only slow things down. Sokka didn't think of him as weak…it was just that it takes him ages to think up a strategy even when one was not needed.

He got off Appa's tail and started to follow the singing. As he got closer, he confirmed that it was a girl singing. As he got even closer, his eyes widened. He knew the tune the girl was singing to. It was the old nursery rhyme they sang. It was Katara!

He turned a corner in time to see her turn another corner ahead. He recognized the Water Tribe blue she was wearing and the Inuit braid that swayed behind her. It was definitely his sister.

The song she was singing sounded weird though, but he didn't even seem to hear. He just ran on to catch up to her.

"Katara!" he called out.

No response.

By now he could hear the words. They were different from what he knew, but he didn't seem to notice.

_When does the moon fall down and die?_

_When does the water turn into blood dried?_

"Katara!" He called out again. He ran faster but he didn't seem to be getting any closer to the sound. He couldn't even see her face properly.

_When does the snow get tainted with blood?_

_When? Oh, when? Tell me dead mother._

Sokka cupped his hands over his mouth to project his voice more. "KATARA!!!" She still wasn't stopping. Either she was hypnotized by something…or she was deaf.

_When does the child rot in the snow?_

Sokka was finally catching up. He saw Katara turn around a corner again. He pumped his legs and ran faster than he had ever had before.

_When does blood drip on her nose?_

"Katara!" He saw her now; walking only a few meters away.

_When does death fall down on the ground? _

"Finally, Katara, I caught up to you," Sokka said with relief. He was directly behind her as she was finishing the last line of the song slowly.

_When? Oh, when? Tell me dead mother._

He gripped her shoulders and turned her around, only to let go of them again and back away by one step.

Her face was bloodied and her eyes blood-shot and wide open. The sclera was red to show that even her eyeballs were bleeding. Her pupils were dilated and her lips were quirked up to a smile. All in all, she looked insane but at that time it actually scared Sokka.

"Why, hello Sokka." She said in such a casual manner…before her head lolled off and fell on the ground. It still had a crazy smiling face on, as if death were nothing more than an insane joke.

Sokka screamed. He didn't usually do that, but then again, this wasn't usual. He backed away but bumped into someone else. He turned around slowly and saw his fathers smiling face. Thank God though. The face wasn't bloody and his smile didn't look as crazy as Katara's. In normal circumstances, the smile would've been described as heartwarming but this wasn't normal.

"Hello, there son," he said.

"D-dad?"

His mom materialized right beside his dad, with the same smiling face. "Sokka, you look happy today."

"M-m-m-mom? What are you doing here?"

This was weird. Insanely weird. His mother was supposed to be dead! And his dad…his dad was supposed to be elsewhere. This wasn't real; this wasn't normal.

"You did a very mean thing to your sister, Sokka," his-supposedly-father said.

"Say sorry to your sister," his fake mother said.

But Sokka didn't. Normally, he would obey his mother without question, but then, this wasn't his mother, and even if she were, the body and head on the floor wasn't his sister's. So he did the only thing he could. He ran.

He ran past his mother and father and back towards the twists and turns of the alleys of the city.

He had his boomerang and his staff; he could take them out easily, but, he couldn't…he wouldn't hit the face of his parents, even if they _were _fake. Deep down in his mind, they were real. Days later, he would be imagining he fought his _own _parents. So…he just kept running.

Sokka turned around and looked. It didn't seem like those 'zombies' were after him. He slipped on a pebble but managed to find his footing on time only to slip on a patch of moss right after. This time, he fell flat on his face and broke his nose.

"Sokka…" His mother called out to him in a sing-song voice. "Come back, please. You know its rude not to say goodbye."

"Goodbye!" He called out behind him. As he did, a drop of blood from his nose fell into his mouth. He felt the bitter taste roll on his tongue before finally evaporating to his warm breath.

He felt his nose being runny with blood. He slowed down a bit and wiped his nose with the back of his arm, not bothering to be clean about it, and then quickened his pace.

"Sokka, say sorry to your sister," his father's gruff voice called to him.

What the heck? The voice was closer now. A lot closer than it should be.

"Sorry, sis!" He shouted behind him, as if it would make a difference.

He turned a corner and then made a sharp right into an alleyway. He thought he made a dead-end but as he neared it, he found that there was another alleyway leading left.

"Sokka?" Another low voice said. At first, Sokka thought his fake parents found another ally, but then, he realized he knew that voice. Yes, he definitely knew that voice. It was Iroh! The old man was just around the corner.

He turned the corner and sure enough, there was the old square with Appa and the former general waiting for him. Iroh was looking in one of the other pathways, his behind sticking out dramatically.

"Iroh!" Sokka called out as if the old man was the best thing that happened to the world.

Iroh turned around and smiled. "There you are, Sokka! I thought you were lost. What happened?"

Sokka stayed in his spot panting for a while and then just smiled at him and said, "I'll tell you later." And due to his lack of sleep a while ago and his 'marathon', he fell on the cobblestone path, snoring loudly, with blood running down his nose.

**A/N: Okay, sorry for the late update. But, graduation had ended at least two or three weeks ago meaning two or three weeks of lazy summer. And in that time, before graduation, and currently, I am reminiscing Gensomaden Saiyuki and is missing it very, very, very much and is trying desperately trying SO hard to find the whole series in Japanese with English subs. In case some of you were wondering, the last time I watched G.S. was almost three years ago.**

**Oh, and I've found out something horrible. Very horrible. I was passing by the living room, where my brother was watching Justice League and I overheard a very disturbing name. Sob…there was a very ugly, stony guy called Dark Side!!! I don't know the spelling of the name but still! It's practically the same!!! …No offense to J.L. lovers. Okay, I have already started two days ago on my new chapter and might be posting soon. I can't post anything this weekend since we're going somewhere with my cousin (To Cheese, Crackers and Fishcake, yes, _that _cousin, and I trust you three not to mention his name in the internet) on vacation. **

**Oh and sorry for the jumpy scenes, since I wrote this at two in the morning, right after my midnight snack, I couldn't sleep after eating so much, this was done in a rush since we're leaving soon for our vacation. **

**Okay then. Again, sorry for the very late chapter. Goodbye.**


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